In the case of Maytag Company v. Hurley Machine Co., 1938, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether or not a patent held by Maytag for its washing machine design had been infringed upon by Hurley Machine Co. The lower courts ruled in favor of Maytag, finding that Hurley's product did indeed infrally on their patent rights. However, when brought before the Supreme Court, this ruling was overturned. The court found that while there were similarities between both machines' designs and functions, these elements were common to all washing machines and therefore could not be patented exclusively by one company. Furthermore, it was determined that any differences between the two designs were merely improvements made by Hurley on existing technology rather than an infringement on unique aspects of Maytag’s design.

In the dissenting opinion for Maytag Company v. Hurley Machine Co., the justice disagreed with the majority's view that there was patent infringement. The justice argued that while both washing machines in question used a similar mechanism to agitate clothes, this did not constitute patent infringement as such mechanisms were common and not unique to either company. Furthermore, they contended that even if one could argue that there was some level of similarity between the two designs, it would be impossible to determine which company had first come up with it due to lack of evidence. Therefore, according to them, no violation occurred since neither party could claim exclusive rights over a commonly-used design feature without clear proof of originality or uniqueness.