Gazda v. United States

108 F. Supp. 516, 123 Ct. Cl. 760, 95 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 329, 1952 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 78
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedDecember 2, 1952
DocketNo. 49554
StatusPublished

This text of 108 F. Supp. 516 (Gazda v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gazda v. United States, 108 F. Supp. 516, 123 Ct. Cl. 760, 95 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 329, 1952 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 78 (cc 1952).

Opinion

WhitakeR, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case is before us on defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s petition.

Plaintiff alleges that he was an inventor of a drum type cartridge magazine designed particularly for use with the Oerlikon 20 mm. antiaircraft camion; that he made application to the United States Patent Office for letters patent on said invention on August 15, 1939, and that pursuant [762]*762thereto United States patent No. 2,367,572 was granted him on January 16,1945; that on March 4,1943, the Alien Property Custodian seized his rights under his application for letters patent; and that on March 9,1949, said patent, which had been issued in the meantime, was returned to him. He further alleges that the Navy Department tested said cartridge magazine on November 15,1940, and that thereafter it asked plaintiff for manufacturing drawings of said magazine and for drawings and specifications for the necessary tooling for the manufacture of said magazines, and that, with plaintiff’s assistance, it manufactured and caused to be manufactured for its accounts a large quantity of said magazines; and plaintiff says that he furnished said drawings and said assistance “in reliance on the statutory obligation of the defendant to pay reasonable compensation therefor and in full expectation that he would in due course receive reasonable compensation therefor.”

In his second cause of action plaintiff says that the defendant has infringed his United States patent No. 2,367,572 by manufacturing and causing to be manufactured these magazines.

In his third cause of action plaintiff, on the facts alleged in his first cause of action, alleges that the defendant is liable to him under the provisions of the Contract Settlement Act of 1944, 58 Stat. 649; 41U. S. C. 101.

Defendant’s motion to dismiss is filed on the ground that plaintiff is barred by the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act from bringing a suit against the defendant for use of his patented invention and that the alleged cause of action based upon an implied contract is barred by the statute of limitations.

It would seem to be beyond controversy that defendant is not liable for an infringement of plaintiff’s patent. As stated, the Alien Property Custodian issued an order on March 4, 1943, reciting that “the undersigned * * * hereby vests in the Alien Property Custodian the property hereinbefore described in subparagraph 1', to be held, used, administered, liquidated, sold, or otherwise dealt with in the interest of and for the benefit of the United States.” Plain[763]*763tiff made application to tlie Alien Property Custodian for the return of his property, and the property was eventually returned. In making the application plaintiff elected to make it under the provisions of section 32 of the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended, rather than under section 9 of the Act. Under section 9, a non-enemy owner, whose property had been seized, had the right to maintain a suit for the recovery of the property or its proceeds. But under section 32, which was added by the Act of March 8,1946,60 Stat. 60, as an amendment to the Trading with the Enemy Act, an owner might prosecute his claim to the property before the Alien Property Custodian without having to go into court. This amendment, as originally reported by the Committees, gave to an owner, whose patent, for instance, had been seized, a right of action against the United States for infringement of it during the time the Alien Property Custodian had possession of it; but the bill was later amended at the suggestion of the Attorney General to add a proviso prohibiting suit against the United States for infringement during the time the Alien Property Custodian held it. This proviso reads:

* * * That except as provided in subsection (b) and (c) hereof no person to whom a return is made pursuant to this section, nor the successor in interest of such a person, shall acquire or have any claim or right of action against the United States or any department, establishment or agency thereof, or corporation owned thereby, or against any person authorized or licensed by the United States, founded upon the retention, sale, or other disposition, or use, during the period it was vested in the Alien Property Custodian, of the returned property, interest, or proceeds. * * * [Italics ours.]

The order returning the property to plaintiff recites in its last paragraph:

In consideration of the premises, I do hereby accept the property, interest, or proceeds thereof, above described, subject to the provisions of subsection (d) of section 32 of the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended.

The above quoted proviso was a part of subsection (d) of section 32. Plaintiff, therefore, accepted the property with the understanding that he should not “acquire or have any [764]*764claim or right of action against the United States * * * founded upon the retention, sale, or other disposition, or use, during the period it was vested in the Alien Property Custodian, of the returned property, interest, or proceeds.”

Several affidavits filed with the motion to dismiss, which are not denied, show that the defendant did not manufacture or use any of these drum type magazines subsequent to their return to plaintiff by the Alien Property Custodian, except that, of course, the defendant continued to use those which it. had acquired prior to said date.

By the agreement signed by plaintiff when the property was returned to him, plaintiff waived any right he had against the United States for infringement of his patent while it was in the possession of the Alien Property Custodian, and the affidavits above referred to show that there has been no. use by the defendant after the return by the Alien Property Custodian. The continued use, after the return of the magazines acquired before the return, does not constitute an additional infringement, if any, by the United States. (Opinion on motion for rehearing, Arthur G. Gage v. United States, 122 C. Cls. 160, cert. den., 844 U. S. 829; Olsson v. United States, 87 C. Cls. 642, cert. den., 807 U. S. 621, 650).

If plaintiff has any right of action against the United States, it is on the theory that the United States entered into an implied contract with him to render technical assistance in connection with the manufacture of these magazines. Plaintiff’s petition alleges that this technical assistance was given “in reliance on the statutory obligation of the defendant to pay reasonable compensation therefor and in full expectation that he would in due course receive reasonable compensation therefor.” He does not allege an express promise by the defendant or its officers to compensate him, nor does he allege, facts that give rise to a contract implied in fact; on the contrary, he alleges-that this assistance was given “in reliance on the statutory• obligation of the defendant to pay reasonable compensation.” In other words, plaintiff says that as a matter of law the defendant was required to pay him reasonable compensation. Aside from the fact that this court has ho jurisdiction of a suit on a contract [765]*765implied in law, we know of no statute which obligates the defendant to pay for such services in the absence of an express contract to do so or one which is implied in fact.

Furthermore, plaintiff’s Swiss patent had been filed February 12, 1940, in the Library of the Patent Office.

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Bluebook (online)
108 F. Supp. 516, 123 Ct. Cl. 760, 95 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 329, 1952 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 78, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gazda-v-united-states-cc-1952.