Photometric Products Corp. v. Radtke

17 F.R.D. 103, 105 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 255, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4180
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 29, 1954
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 17 F.R.D. 103 (Photometric Products Corp. v. Radtke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Photometric Products Corp. v. Radtke, 17 F.R.D. 103, 105 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 255, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4180 (S.D.N.Y. 1954).

Opinion

LEIBELL, District Judge.

This action was commenced June 3, 1940. Plaintiff, in its second amended complaint filed December 16, 1942, seeks a decree directing that a patent No. 2,-114,939 for a “Method of and Means for Optically Reproducing Sound”, issued April 19, 1938 to Radtke Patents Corporation, on an application No. 609,196 filed in the United States Patent Office on December 27,1922, by the defendant, Albert A. Radtke, be held to be the property of the plaintiff, Photometric Products Corporation ; and directing that the defendant, Radtke Patents Corporation, assignee of Radtke by mesne assignments, be held to have acquired no title thereto and be required to deliver to plaintiff a full assignment thereof. Plaintiff also prays that Radtke Patents Corporation and the defendant, Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. be enjoined from doing ary acts encumbering or clouding the title of plaintiff to the said patent; that the said two corporate defendants be required to account to plaintiff for all profits and benefits received by them from certain licensees since the issuance of the said patent; that defendants surrender all muniments of title to the plaintiff; and that the defendant, Leonard Day, be decreed to hold said patent for the benefit of plaintiff.

Of the four defendants named in this action, Leonard Day, a citizen of New York, died June 29,1943. His estate was not substituted as a party defendant under Rule 25(a), 28 U.S.C. Albert A. Radtke, also named as a defendant although no relief was demanded as against him, died February 20, 1951. His estate was not substituted as a party defendant. That left only Radtke Patents Corporation and Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. as party defendants.

The case was tried before me in February and March of this year and final briefs were submitted at the end of May. No question of jurisdiction was raised by any of the parties. While working on my opinion on the merits, the defendants were notified that a serious question of jurisdiction had arisen, because the plaintiff and one of the defendants, Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., were both Delaware corporations.

The defendant, Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., made a motion last month to [106]*106dismiss the second amended complaint herein on the grounds that this Court does not have jurisdiction of the action, because (1) the action does not involve a federal question and (2) there is a lack of diversity of citizenship between the plaintiff, Photometric Products Corporation, and the defendant, Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., both Delaware corporations.

The other remaining defendant, Radtke Patents Corporation, a New York corporation, at the same time moved to dismiss the second amended complaint on the grounds that the Court does not have jurisdiction of the action as to Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., which Radtke Patents Corporation asserts is an indispensable party defendant.

The plaintiff and Russell V. Judson, alleged to be “trustee” of the plaintiff under an agreement dated April 10, 1939, have made a cross motion to have Russell V. Judson as trustee of Photometric Products Corporation substituted as party plaintiff in place of Photometric Products Corporation, and for leave to amend the title and the complaint accordingly.1 Judson is now, and at all times since the institution of this action and for many years prior thereto was, a resident and citizen of the State of Michigan. Full diversity of citizenship would be present if the substitution were granted. Judson’s citizenship, not that of Photometric Products Corporation would be controlling if he were the trustee for Photometric. Bullard v. City of Cisco, 290 U.S. 179, 54 S.Ct. 177, 78 L.Ed. 254.

Where no federal question is presented the jurisdiction of the federal courts depends upon diversity of citizenship. There must be complete diversity of citizenship between all the parties on one side of the litigation and all the parties on the other side. T. 28 U.S.C. § 1332; Mitchell v. Maurer, 293 U.S. 237, 55 S.Ct. 162, 79 L.Ed. 338; Levering & Garrigues Co. v. Morrin, 2 Cir., 61 F.2d 115, affirmed 289 U.S. 103, 53 S.Ct. 549, 77 L.Ed. 1062. Jurisdiction cannot be conferred by waiver or consent. Carpenter v. Carden, 2 Cir., 294 F. 515. For jurisdictional purposes a corporation is a [107]*107citizen of the state which created it. Marshall v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 16 How. 314, 57 U.S. 314, 14 L.Ed. 953.

The action involves (A) a claim to the title of two patent applications, No. 176,-290 and No. 609,196 of Albert A. Radtke and to a patent No. 2,114,939 issued to Radtke Patents Corporation on the latter application; (B) a claim for an accounting of royalties received by the corporate defendants from licensees; and (C) a claim for certain injunctive relief to protect the title and for the surrender of all muniments of title.

The fact that the title to a patent or patent application is involved in an action in the federal courts does not present a federal question for adjudication and does not confer jurisdiction on the Court under T. 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Dill Mfg. Co. v. Goff, 6 Cir., 125 F.2d 676, certiorari denied 317 U.S. 672, 63 S.Ct. 77, 87 L.Ed. 540; Measurements Corp. v. Ferris Instrument Corp., 3 Cir., 159 F.2d 590; Lion Mfg. Corp. v. Chicago Flexible Shaft Co., 7 Cir., 106 F.2d 930. Injunctive relief, based on the claim to the patent, to restrain the defendants from doing anything in derogation of the title, and the claim for the surrender of the muniments of title, are in the same class as the claim to the title itself. Wilson v. Sandford, 10 How. 99, 51 U.S. 99, 13 L.Ed. 344. An action by an alleged owner of a patent to recover royalties collected by one claiming title to the patent does not present a federal question. Luckett v. Delpark, Inc., 270 U.S. 496, 46 S.Ct. 397, 70 L.Ed. 703. See also, Wells v. Universal Pictures Co., 2 Cir., 166 F.2d 690.

The plaintiff’s claim to the patent and the royalties is based on (a) an alleged express contract with the inventor, Albert A. Radtke, in January 1921, to assign to plaintiff, his employer, his patent applications for two years; (b) an alleged implied contract growing out of Radtke’s employment by plaintiff at the time the invention is alleged to have been made by him; and (c) an alleged conspiracy, in which Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. and Leonard Day (deceased) are charged with having been parties, which had as its objective the acquisition of the patent applications and the patent through assignment from Radtke to their designee, and then to the defendant, Radtke Patents Corporation, in which Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. had an interest up to 1936.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
17 F.R.D. 103, 105 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 255, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4180, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/photometric-products-corp-v-radtke-nysd-1954.