Interference No. 103,587
establish conception, a party must show possession of every feature recited in the count.
Coleman v. Dines, 754 F.2d 353, 359, 224 USPQ 857, 862 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
Even if the corroborating witness had indicated that the inventor, Raphael Levien,
possessed every limitation of the count on November 8, 1987, his testimony would not have been
persuasive with respect to prior conception. The fact that the corroborating witness Jack Levien
is closely related to the inventor goes to his credibility or weight of his testimony, but it does not
disqualify him or render him incompetent to testify as a corroborating witness. However,
relatives of a party are considered as being biased in the party’s favor, unless it appears that they
have an adverse interest. III Rivise and Caesar, Interference Law and Practice, §§ 504, 551
(Michie Co. 1947). Here, Raphael’s father had no adverse interest and his testimony is
considered as being biased in his son’s favor. Furthermore, the invention is complex and
Raphael’s father was not shown to be skilled in the particulars of the field of the involved
invention such that he understood what was disclosed to him, and he testified to a large extent
from memory long after the occurrences of which he spoke, approximately nine years after.
McKnight v. Pohle, 22 App. D.C. 219, 1903 Comm’r 619, 105 Off. Gaz. 977 (Appeals D.C.
1903); III Rivise and Caesar, Interference Law and Practice § 552 (Michie Co. 1947). No
contemporaneous document was produced by the junior party to establish what, if anything, was
communicated to the corroborator by the inventor on November 8, 1987.
Alone, the fact that the sole corroborating witness is the inventor’s father does not defeat
Levien’s case for priority and it is considered that such testimony under other circumstances
could establish conception. However, we are of the opinion that when all of the above
weaknesses of the corroborator’s testimony are considered together, his testimony as a whole is
insufficient to establish that Raphael Levien disclosed to him even the incomplete conception
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