Posted on 04/07/2005 8:13:16 AM PDT by Cagey
Three federal judges yesterday questioned whether the method for creating a crustless, peanut butter and jelly sandwich is unique.
The hearing, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, was the latest round in J.M. Smucker Co.'s attempt to expand its patent on Uncrustables, frozen, disk-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that have been among the Orrville, Ohio, jam-maker's most successful products.
The three judges explored the difference between bread that is "smushed" versus "compressed," and pondered the idea of jelly "encapsulated" in peanut butter. One even questioned whether his wife violated Smucker's patent when she made lunch for their child.
There is no deadline for the court's decision, but lawyers in the case said it could take several months.
Smucker obtained patent rights on the sandwich in 1999, and set out to expand them with new applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. But a patent examiner handling the case rejected the company's requests. The Patent Office's appeals board upheld the decision, declaring the sealed sandwich wasn't new, and citing, among other things, a pastry cookbook that shows how to seal the edges of tarts and stuffed pasta.
Yesterday, Smucker lawyer, Robert Vickers of Fay, Sharpe, Fagan, Minnich & McKee LLP of Cleveland, argued that the sandwich's edge isn't made like the tarts or raviolis shown in the cookbook. Instead, he said, the bread retains its original characteristics but its edges are compressed.
"So it's smushed!" Judge Raymond Clevenger III declared,
"It is sealed by compression, but it is not smushed," Mr. Vickers explained.
Mr. Vickers also said the sandwich is novel because the filling "encapsulates" jelly between two larger layers of peanut butter. But the judges weren't sure how the "encapsulated" filling makes the Smucker sandwich different from other versions.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Perry Mason would be so proud to hear such fine dialog...
Many young pinnipeds are killed by adults who roll over them. I say they're smushed. But one could say they are sealed by compression.
...of course, I have been known to make similar arguments...
I've tried these. Not bad, but my kids hate them.
At one point, another judge, Arthur Gajarsa, said his wife often squeezes together the sides of their child's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep the filling form oozing out. "I'm afraid she might be infringing on your patent!"
It sounds like Smuckers is in a real ... um... jam.
My daughter and I said the same thing. Even though she has not purchased any of these for her two, I really doubt that they would prefer then over the home made ones.
I had the exact same thought as I saw these in the store. I couldn't believe that making a sandwich was enough trouble to justify the price point difference between this and just making one yourself. My daughter's a little picky on how her's are made, anyway. Gets it from her mother...
What a crock. I always make mine like this, with peanut butter on both sides.
SD
Only in America would people spend extra money for PB & J and then go to court about it.
They were demonstrating them at a local store a month ago, and I finally took a look at them. They have the appearance of uncooked meat pies, pretty unappetizing!
This regards US Patent No. 6,004,596 which claims:
1. A sealed crustless sandwich, comprising:
a first bread layer having a first perimeter surface coplanar to a contact surface;
at least one filling of an edible food juxtaposed to said contact surface;
a second bread layer juxtaposed to said at least one filling opposite of said first bread layer, wherein said second bread layer includes a second perimeter surface similar to said first perimeter surface;
a crimped edge directly between said first perimeter surface and said second perimeter surface for sealing said at least one filling between said first bread layer and said second bread layer;
wherein a crust portion of said first bread layer and said second bread layer has been removed.
This may be more about the modern tendency to not have time to sit down and eat. More and more products are sold in forms that are easily packaged to be eaten "on the run". This sandwich is small enough to be held while walking.
Goes along with the drinkable yogurt and dozens of other "portable" food products.
Darn right it will. Some (Not all) patent attornies awaken in the middle of the night in cold terror sweats at the thought of a well-searched and well-prepared application sailing through the Patent Process with few problems or office actions.
Fewer billable hours.
I know of a startup whose backers demanded that they use a boutique law firm..a NAME as it were.
More than three years later, there is no issue, and the startup has been bled and looted and may fail. The NAME has run up hundreds of thousands from dealing with "Problems".
We just fired an IP Law firm for going into a coma on a number of our applications, while still billing and billing.
It seems to have gotten to the point where a patent is only valuable to the law firm, and the above discussion of the rheology of peanut butter and jelly could support that.
Yes, but do you smush yours?
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