and declared the patent void. On 9 September 1943, the supreme court abolished the second stage judgement, ratified the first stage judgement and thus, the patent remained effective. On bezel Tuomas Vohlonen was granted a patent number 16121 on 12 October 1934. It was for a device in a compass to measure the angle. It was described as being in a bezel, in which there were diagonal grooves, screws or other alike to place a ruler, pen or alike, to rotate a bezel to align with the north of map. On a first trial, Physica sued Vohlonen on a basis that the device already existed and was well known before the date of patent application. On the second trial of the same question, Physica sued Vohlonen, because they didn’t consider the device to be any followance of creative work to be considered an innovation, let alone to be worth patenting. Also, they considered the patent to disturb their business and thus, they demanded the patent to be void. On the first trial, the supreme court judged the patent to be effective. On the second trial, Vohlonen family didn’t even respond, saying the matter was already solved in the first trial. The supreme court gave its final statement on 25 February 1944, according to which the court didn’t change the verdict of the first trial. Confiscating the tools On 18 November 1935, because of the demand of Tuomas Vohlonen, the court gave an order to confiscate the tools of Physica, which were used for making compasses. The confiscation was executed three days later. Physica sued Vohlonen family, the lawsuit went through all the stages of the court, and the supreme court gave its statement on 17 February 1947, according to which the tools could have been used for other purposes also, so the confiscation wasn’t necessary. Vohlonen family had to pay Physica for the damage caused. The result Cases mentioned above provide a preview of the setting. Suunto Oy and Vohlonen family won most of these long-lasting trials and the patents remained effective. Soon after these times, Physica gradually quit the manufacture of compasses as unprofitable and the whole company vanished. References 1877 births 1939 deaths Surveyors Finnish inventors Male orienteers