The order which granted this Writ limits our consideration to the validity of Hayduck patents Nos. 1,449,103, 1,449,105, 1,449,106. 306 U.S. 627, 59 S.Ct. 645, 83 L.Ed. 1031. They relate to processes for manufacturing baker's yeast and are owned by the petitioner. It will be convenient to designate them by the last three figures of their office numbers-103, 105, 106.
All three patents were declared invalid by the Circuit Court of Appeals below, 3 Cir., 101 F.2d 814. In the District Court for New Jersey, 103 had been adjudged valid; 105 and 106 invalid, D.C., 21 F.Supp. 46.
The District Court for Maryland in two causes (Soper, J.) held the patents valid, Fleischman Yeast Co. v. Federal Yeast Corporation, D.C., 8 F.2d 186, Standard Brands, Inc. v. Federal Yeast Corporation, D.C., 38 F.2d 329. The Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, affirmed the judgment sustaining 103, Federal Yeast Corporation v. Fleischmann Co., 13 F.2d 570. The parties arrived at a settlement and no appeal was taken from the second judgment.
Much has been written relative to these patents in the carefully prepared opinions referred to above. They adequately reveal the facts and points of law incident to the prolonged disputation. Irreconcilable views have been approved and we must now decide which is to be preferred.
'Yeast is a small cellular micro-organism. In its ordinary significance, it is a conglomerate mass of infinitesimally small cells. It multiplies by self propagation, limited by the means of subsistence, and the quality and yield are greatly affected by the conditions under which propagation is carried on. Yeast has been manufactured for at least 50 years by inoculating a wort; that is, by preparing a clear liquid solution and stocking it with a small amount of seed yeast. Such worts include substances to nourish the yeast cells, and are called yeast nutrient solutions. * * * The field for investigation and improvement has been the composition of the nutrient solution, and the character of the process employed during the period of growth.' Nutrient solutions often contain inorganic salts which are broken down through the growth of the seed yeast. Commonly, this brings about marked acidity. Growth progresses best in a slightly acid wort; over-acidity retards or destroys it; aeration of the wort accelerates growth.
The amount of alcohol consequent upon the growth of yeast cells has direct relation to the concentration of the wort. When intensified the yield of alcohol increases; when lowered there is less.
Generally: Patent 103 proposes to neutralize any deleterious acidity in a wort which contains inorganic salt by adding an antacid material; patent 105 requires the addition of nutrients during the growth of the yeast 'at a rate such that the yeast may propagate and substantially all of the alcohol which may be formed is assimilated by the yeast'; patent 106 combines the neutralization idea of 103 with the rate of feed proposed by 105.
Claim No. 1 of patent 103, typical of all, follows, 'The process of manufacturing yeast which comprises preparing a yeast nutrient solution and propagating yeast therein with aeration, said yeast nutrient solution containing essentially sugar material and yeast nourishing inorganic salts from which components are liberated which tend increasingly to acidify the nutrient solution during propagation, and during the period of propagation neutralizing the deleterious excess of such acidity.'
In respect of this petitioners' counsel maintain 'It covers, rather, the integral coordination of propagating yeast with aeration in a prepared solution containing essentially sugar material and yeast nourishing inorganic salts from which results an increasing acidification tending to become deleterious, and neutralizing the deleterious excess of such acidity in the solution while the yeast propagation is being conducted.' The Circuit Court of Appeals below declared (101 F.2d 820) 'We think that it cannot be denied that the use of antacid or basic materials as neutralizers for acidity in respect to yeast is old in the art. * * * We think that Hayduck has simply set forth a technique which is useful in the manufacture of yeast under modern methods. Hayduck's disclosures do not attain to the dignity of invention. His process is the result of the exercise of the skill of the calling, the application of an old principle to a similar or analogous subject with no change in the manner of application and without any substantially different result.'
And it accordingly held patent 103 invalid for want of invention over the prior art.