“These are the plastic crossed eyes that are attached to the teddy bear’s face. As you can see, the iris and pupil are displaced nasalward.”
“And this is a drawing of the plastic straight eyes as they’re reflected within the spectacles I designed.”
“May I see it, please?”
Nettleton handed the drawing to him.
“By reflected...”
“With mirrors, Your Honor.”
“Mirrors?”
“Yes, Your Honor. If I may show you my other drawings.”
“Please.”
Nettleton turned some more pages, folded them back, and displayed another drawing to Santos.
“This is the teddy-bear optical schematic,” he said. “It illustrates the manner in which I expressed the optical principles of my system for producing apparently straight eyes. A and D are button eyes that will be seen by reflection from the right and left mirrors. Their images only appear to be at R and L respectively.”
“For the right eye, the distance from A to B equals the distance from B to R at the plane of the bear’s face. Similarly, for the left eye, the distance from C to D equals the distance from C to L. The lenses, as I mentioned earlier, are plano lenses.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Santos said.
“The next drawing will make it entirely clear,” Nettleton said, and began leafing through the specs again.
“Your Honor,” Brackett said, “this is all enormously fascinating...”
“Actually, I do find it fascinating,” Santos said.
“But it has nothing to do with whether the design was copied or...”
“It may have everything to do with differences between the two bears, Mr. Brackett.”
“Your Honor, in order to show originality, substantial diff—”
“Well, let’s see the drawing, shall we?” Santos said. “Have you found it, Dr. Nettleton?”
“Yes, I have it right here,” Nettleton said, and handed the pages back to Santos.
“This drawing illustrates the implementation of the optical system in the manner in which I expressed it. As you see, the wraparound frame allows attachment of the button eyes A and D to the inside surface of the broad temples. The forty-five-degree mirrors are attached to the inside of the front frame and extend back to the temples. The depth of the frame conceals the mirrors. Thus, when the uncrossed plastic eyes and surrounding fur — integrated into the temples — are reflected into the fully silvered mirrors, they appear to be originating from the facial plane of the actual teddy bear.”
“That is ingenious,” Santos said.
“Thank you.”
“Ingenious, Dr. Nettleton.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Don’t you think that’s ingenious, Mr. Brackett?”
“If you’re using the word to mean marked by originality in conception, I must take exception, Your Honor. In fact, if I may continue with my cross...”
“Yes, please do. Ingenious, Dr. Nettleton,” Santos said, and handed the specifications back to him. “Ingenious.”
Brackett cleared his throat.
“Dr. Nettleton,” he said, “would you know whether there are any eyeglasses in existence which are identical or even very similar to the ones you designed for Miss Commins?”
“I have no knowledge of any device which appears to be a pair of eyeglasses but which is in reality merely a carrier, if you will, for reflective mirrors. If designs for any such device exist, I had no access to them.”
“Ah, access. Did Mr. Hope ask you to mention access?”
“No, he did not.”
“Do you understand the meaning of the word ‘access’ as it pertains to copyright matters?”
“I don’t know anything about copyright. I’m an optometrist. I examine the eye for defects and faults of refraction...”
“Yes, yes.”
“...and prescribe corrective lenses or exercises...”
“Yes, but not drugs or surgery Thank you, we already have that, Doctor. What does access mean to you?”
“It means I saw something. I had access to it. I knew about it.”
“As pertains to copyright matters, it can also mean you had reasonable opportunity to have seen it.”
“I never saw any device like the one I designed for Miss Commins.”
“What if I told you that eyeglasses similar to yours...”
“They are not eyeglasses!”
“Your Honor,” I said, getting to my feet, “do you think we might stipulate that Dr. Nettleton’s design is not for eyeglasses, but only for a device made to look like eyeglasses?”
“I’ll make no such stipulation,” Brackett said.
“Then might Mr. Brackett refrain from calling them eyeglasses, when clearly...”
“What should I call eyeglasses but eyeglasses?”
“Let him call them what he chooses, Mr. Hope. Let’s just get on with this, shall we?”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” Brackett said, and turned back to the witness. “Dr. Nettleton, are you aware that a design for eyeglasses remarkably similar to yours appeared in an industry technical journal many years ago? Would you still say you had no access?”
“I never saw my device anywhere.”
“Do you read trade journals?”
“I do.”
“Do you read Optics and Lenses?”
“I’ve read it on occasion.”
“Have you read the March 1987 issue of that magazine?”
“No.”
“Your Honor, I ask the Court to take judicial notice that this magazine I hold in my hand is the March 1987 issue of Optics and Lenses.”
“Mr. Hope? Do you dispute this?”
“No, Your Honor.”
“Judicial notice taken. Move it into evidence as exhibit A for the defense.”
“Dr. Nettleton, I ask you to turn to page twenty-one of the magazine, would you do that for me, please?”
Nettleton leafed through the magazine, found the page, and looked up.
“Do you see the title of the article on that page?”
“I do.”
“Would you read it to the Court, please?”
“The whole article?”
“Just the title, please.”
“The title is ‘The Use of Corrective Lenses in the Treatment of Strabismus.’”
“Thank you. Dr. Nettleton, would you call your eyeglasses a way of using corrective lenses in the treatment of strabismus?”
“No, I would not.”
“Well, isn’t Ms. Commins’s bear cross-eyed?”
“It is.”
“And isn’t ‘strabismus’ the proper medical term for this condition?”
“Yes, but...”
“And don’t your eyeglasses correct this condition?”
“Yes, but...”
“Then wouldn’t you agree that your design makes use of corrective lenses in the treatment of...”
“Mirrors. It makes use of mirrors.”
“Lenses, mirrors, all have to do with optics.”
“A mirror isn’t a lens. A mirror is a surface that forms an image by reflection. A lens forms an image by focusing rays of light. They are two separate and distinct...”
“Doesn’t your design demonstrate one way of treating the condition known as strabismus?”
“Only in the very loosest possible sense. We’re not talking about real strabismus here, we’re...”