Kramer v. Commissioner

27 B.T.A. 1043, 1933 BTA LEXIS 1256
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedApril 3, 1933
DocketDocket Nos. 47247, 47329, 58943, 59191, 62842, 62843.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 27 B.T.A. 1043 (Kramer v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kramer v. Commissioner, 27 B.T.A. 1043, 1933 BTA LEXIS 1256 (bta 1933).

Opinion

OPINION.

Teammell :

These are consolidated proceedings for the redetermi-nation of deficiencies in income tax as follows:

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The petitioner, Olga R,. Kramer, agreed at the hearing that the deficiency determined against her by the respondent in Docket No. 62843 is correct, and that judgment may be entered accordingly.

At the hearing, counsel for the petitioners suggested the death of the petitioner, Julius Kramer, and moved that Walter E. Kramer, executor of the estate of said decedent, be substituted as petitioner, which motion was granted.

[1044]*1044The issues submitted for decision are: (1) Whether or not the petitioners are entitled to deductions for exhaustion of alleged contractual rights to receive royalties from patents pooled under the terms of a certain contract dated November 8, 1916; (2) whether or not the petitioners are entitled to deduct from income for 1924 certain amounts refunded in that year to a corporation of which Julius Kramer and Schnadig were the sole directors and which amounts represented dividends unlawfully paid out of the corporation’s capital; (8) whether or not amounts distributed to Julius Kramer and Schnadig in 1924 and 1925 from reserved royalties should 'be included in income for said years; (4) whether or not the petitioners are entitled to deduct from income for 1924 amounts paid to repurchase stock from a former manager of a corporation of which said Kramer and Schnadig were directors; (5) whether or not the estate of Julius Kramer is entitled to deduct from income of said decedent for the years 1924, 1925 and 1926 amounts paid by said decedent to his son Walter E. Kramer for services rendered by the son during said years to a corporation whose stock was then owned by Julius Kramer and Schnadig; (6) whether or not the sale by Julius Kramer in 1926 of his two-thirds undivided interest in certain real estate was an installment sale within the meaning of section 212 (d) of the Revenue Act of 1926; and (7) whether or not the petitioners are entitled to deduct from income for 1928 any amounts as representing losses on the sale in said year of the capital stock of the Davoplane Bed Company.

The first issue for consideration here is whether or not the petitioners are entitled to deductions for exhaustion of alleged contractual rights to receive royalties under a certain pooling contract dated November 8, 1916. The petitioners claim that said rights were acquired on December 16, 1916, under the following circumstances:

In November, 1906, Julius Kramer and Schnadig purchased stock in the Pullman Couch Company, a corporation organized in January, 1906, which was engaged in manufacturing couches and Turkish rockers. In 1907, the Pullman Couch Company acquired for $2,500 cash certain patents, known as the “ Bostrom patents,” covering davenport beds of folding steel construction inside of a wooden frame. These patents proved to be very valuable. ■

In January 1910, a corporation known as the Davoplane Bed Company was organized for the purpose of holding the Bostrom patents, and its stock was issued one-third to one Kroehler and two-thirds to Julius Kramer and Schnadig. Just prior to that time Julius Kramer appears to have been the sole owner of the three Bostrom patents, and that he paid said patents in to the Davoplane Bed Company in exchange for 1,498 shares of its capital stock out [1045]*1045of a total of 1,500 shares, one-third of which stock was then transferred to Kroehler for 10 shares of stock which he held in the Pul-man Couch Company. It is not shown when or in what manner Julius Kramer acquired the Bostrom patents from the Pullman Couch Company prior to the organization of the Davoplane Bed Company in January, 1910, except that he acquired said patents “ as trustee ” for the purpose of forming the Davoplane Bed Company.

Infringement litigation was instituted by the Davoplane Bed Company for the purpose of establishing the validity of its Bostrom patents, which litigation was terminated in favor of said company by a decision of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on April 18,1916. Freedman v. Davoplane Bed Co., 234 Fed. 70.

As a result of the establishment of the validity of the Bostrom patents, a pool was formed in November 1916, of numerous patents, including the Bostrom patents, relating to the construction of folding davenport beds and similar devices. On November 3, 1916, a written agreement was entered into between the owners of the various patents mentioned, which provided for the granting of an exclusive license to the Seng Company (which had formerly held a license from the Pullman Couch Company under the Bostrom patents) to manufacture and sell under all of said pooled patents, the specified royalties to be divided in stated proportions among the parties to said agreement. Of the total amount of said royalties, 33 per cent was allotted to the Pullman Couch Company as the share of the Kramer-Schnadig group. The pooling contract also provided that each party or group should have a free shop right or license, and pursuant to this provision the free shop right to which the Kramer-Schnadig group was entitled was given to the Pullman Couch Company.

On December 16, 1916, a meeting of the directors of the Pullman Couch Company was held, at which a resolution was adopted directing its officers to execute an assignment or order to the Seng Company, the licensee under the pooled patents, directing said licensee to pay to Julius Kramer and Schnadig all royalties due or to become due to the Pullman Couch Company under the pooling agreement. The license contract of November 3, 1916, was signed by the Davoplane Bed Company and also by the Pullman Couch Company, as well as by Julius Kramer and Schnadig, individually. The Pullman Couch Company “ submitted ” 13 patents to be controlled by the pool agreement, including two of the Bostrom patents, and the Davoplane Bed Company “ submitted ” 7 patents, including one of the Bostrom patents. Julius Kramer likewise “ submitted ” one patent.

[1046]*1046The foregoing facts, summarized from the evidence adduced by the petitioners, do not disclose the circumstance attending the numerous transfers of the Bostrom patents during the period from 1906 to 1916. Shortly after 1906 it is indicated that said patents had been acquired by Julius Kramer and Schnadig, and transferred to the Pullman Couch Company. In the early part of 1910, it is shown that Julius Kramer -was the sole owner of said patents and paid them in to the Davopiane Bed Company in exchange for substantially all of its capital stock. In March 1913, petitioner’s counsel states that the Bostrom patents “ technically belonged to the Pullman Couch Co.” but that Kramer and Schnadig owned all of the stock of that company. On November 3, 1916, we find two of the patents being submitted to the patent pool by the Pullman Couch Company and one of them submitted by the Davopiane Bed Company. The record fails to disclose why the entire 33 per cent of the total royalties accruing to the patent pool should have been assigned to the Pullma'n Couch Company instead of being-divided between that company, the Davopiane Bed Company and Julius Kramer in proportion to the number or value of the patents contributed to the pool by each.

However, it is clearly established that in 1916 said patents were not owned directly either by Julius Kramer or by the petitioner Schnadig.

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Kramer v. Commissioner
27 B.T.A. 1043 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
27 B.T.A. 1043, 1933 BTA LEXIS 1256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kramer-v-commissioner-bta-1933.