Deepsouth Packing Co. v. Laitram Corp.

Deepsouth Packing Co. v. Laitram Corp.

Opinion

 [*518]   [***275]   [**1702]  MR. JUSTICE WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana has written:

"Shrimp, whether boiled, broiled, barbecued or fried, are a gustatory delight, but they did not evolve  [*519]  to satisfy man's palate. Like other crustaceans, they wear their skeletons outside their bodies in order to shield their savory pink and white flesh against predators, including man. They also carry their intestines, commonly called veins, in bags (or sand bags) that run the length of their bodies.  For shrimp to be edible, it is necessary to remove their shells.  In addition, if the vein  [***276]  is removed, shrimp become more pleasing to the fastidious as well as more palatable." ¹

Such "gustatory" observations are rare even in those piscatorially favored federal courts blissfully situated on [****3]  the Nation's Gulf Coast, but they are properly recited in this case. Petitioner and respondent both hold patents on machines that devein shrimp more cheaply and efficiently than competing machinery or hand labor can do the job. Extensive litigation below has established that respondent, the Laitram Corp., has the superior claim and that the distribution and use of petitioner Deepsouth's machinery in this country should be enjoined to prevent infringement of Laitram's patents. Laitram Corp. v. Deepsouth Packing Co., 443 F.2d 928 (CA5 1971). We granted certiorari, 404 U.S. 1037 (1972), to consider a related question: Is Deep-south, barred from the  [**1703]  American market by Laitram's patents, also foreclosed by the patent laws from exporting its deveiners, in less than fully assembled form, for use abroad?

A rudimentary understanding of the patents in dispute is a prerequisite [****4]  to comprehending the legal issue presented. The District Court determined that the Laitram Corp. held two valid patents for machinery  [*520]  used in the process of deveining shrimp. One, granted in 1954, ² accorded Laitram rights over a "slitter" which exposed the veins of shrimp by using water pressure and gravity to force the shrimp down an inclined trough studded with razor blades. As the shrimp descend through the trough their backs are slit by the blades or other knife-like objects arranged in a zig-zag pattern. The second patent, granted in 1958, covers a "tumbler," "a device to mechanically remove substantially all veins from shrimp whose backs have previously been slit," App. 127, by the machines described in the 1954 patent. This invention uses streams of water to carry slit shrimp into and then out of a revolving drum fabricated from commercial sheet metal. As shrimp pass through the drum the hooked "lips" of the punched metal, "projecting at an acute angle from the supporting member and having a smooth rounded free edge for engaging beneath the vein of a shrimp and for wedging the vein between the lip and the supporting member," App. 131, engage the veins and remove [****5]  them.

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