Citations
- 119 F. Supp. 262
Full opinion text
MEANEY, District Judge.
This is a suit brought by the plaintiff, DeJur-Amsco Corporation, against Marlin E. Fogle for a declaration that it is the owner of a patent application of the defendant, now Fogle’s Letters Patent No. 2,584,440 for an exposure meter. The defendant, denying the claim of the plaintiff, seeks a dismissal of the complaint and counterclaims asking (1) for an accounting for all exposure meters manufactured and sold by the plaintiff during the period of its employment of the defendant, and payment of certain royalties; (2) an accounting for all such meters manufactured and shipped by the plaintiff which embody features covered by defendant’s patent No. 2,-584,440, and recovery of royalties thereon; (3) damages occasioned the defendant by reason of what the defendant terms fraudulent conduct on the part of the plaintiff in provoking baseless interference proceedings, purposely prolonging them and otherwise causing financial loss to the defendant by the institution of the present suit as part of a fraudulent purpose to deprive the defendant of his rights to his patent and its exploitation. The determination of the suit must depend largely on the construction of an employment agreement between the two parties to this action. Whatever factual questions may arise were testified to at an interference proceeding in the Patent Office affecting the suit patent No. 2,584,440, and at the trial held before this court on September 15, 1953.
The plaintiff for many years has been a manufacturer of electrical and mechanical apparatus, part of its operation being concerned with the field of photography. Among its products were what are known as exposure meters, for calculating the time of exposure of a film according to the light at the time of photographing. The defendant is a person of admitted skill and experience in various fields including electrical and electro-chemical engineering, mathematics and physics. In April, 1945, the parties entered into an agreement which they have stipulated is contained in three letters dated April 18, April 24, and April 27, 1945. These letters are attached to and made part of the complaint as Exhibit 1. The agreement was for the period of one year, renewable on • its expiration by mutual consent. At the, expiration of the agreement there was no formal renewal but the relationship between the parties was continued until mid-September, 1946, when a new agreement was entered into, in which .the defendant became an engineering consultant.
Under the terms of the original agreement the defendant was employed as chief engineer in charge of electrical instruments at a yearly salary of $10,000 plus further compensation set forth in the letter of April 18th. He was to enter his employment within approximately six weeks from April 18th. The further compensation was to consist of '(1) the payment of two cents on each exposure meter currently manufactured and shipped by the plaintiff company except those for government or war agencies, and these payments were to begin immediately on the commencement of his duties with the company; (2) the payment of seven cents on each exposure meter manufactured and sold by the company on new models made and produced after the defendant’s entry into the company’s employ. This sum was to be paid for a period of five years from the date of production of these units, and in the event of the death of defendant during such period, the seven cents per meter on such new models was to be .paid to his wife for the remaining period.
The' agreement went on to include the following provisions:
“3. It is further understood that in the event of termination of your employment with us, that the compensation of seven (7