The writs in the eight above entitled causes were granted upon the petitions of parties to four suits instituted to recover compensation for use by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. of three patents, formerly owned by three of them (the German corporations), under licenses issued as provided by the Trading with the Enemy Act, approved October 6, 1917. 40 Stat. 411, 420, 421, 459, 460, 1020, 1921.
April 6, 1917, the United States declared war with Germany; July 1, 1921, Congress declared it at an end.
The Trading with the Enemy Act authorized the President to appoint an Alien Property Custodian; also to license domestic corporations to make, use, and vend articles covered by enemy-owned patents, upon agreed terms, payments therefor to be deposited with the United States Treasury in trust for the owners. And it declared, section 10, that such a license should be a complete defense to any suit by the owner for damages on account of anything done thereunder, except as provided by subsection (f), 50 USCA Appendix § 10(f), which follows:
'The owner of any patent * * * under which a license is granted hereunder may, after the end of the war and until the expiration of one year thereafter, file a bill in equity against the licensee * * * for recovery from the said licensee for all use and enjoyment of the said patented invention. * * * The amount of said judgment and decree, when final, shall be paid on order of the court to the owner of the patent from the fund deposited by the licensee, so far as such deposit will satisfy said judgment and decree. * * *'
License No. 19, granted January 21, 1918, by the Federal Trade Commission, acting under designation by the President, authorized the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. to make, use and vend the inventions covered by United States letters patent Nos. 680,395, 868,294, and 718,340, severally owned by German corporations, petitioners in causes Nos. 180, 181, and 182. Substantial payments by the licensee were deposited in the Treasury. The license terminated September 1, 1920.
The Act of March 28, 1918, 40 Stat. 459, 460, § 1, amended section 12, par. 4, Trading with the Enemy Act (50 USCA Appendix § 12, par. 4), to provide: 'The alien property custodian shall be vested with all of the powers of a common-law trustee in respect of all property, other than money, which has been or shall be, or which has been or shall be required to be, conveyed, transferred, assigned, delivered, or paid over to him in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, and, in addition thereto * * * shall have power to manage such property and do any act or things in respect thereof or make any disposition thereof or of any part thereof, by sale or otherwise, and exercise any rights or powers which may be or become appurtenant thereto or to the owner thereof.' And the Act of November 4, 1918, 40 Stat. 1020, 1021 (50 USCA Appendix § 7(c), amended subsection (c) of section 7 to read:
'If the President shall so require any money or other property including (but not thereby limiting the generality of the above) patents, copyrights, applications therefor, and rights to apply for the same, trade marks, choses in action, and rights and claims of every character and description owing or belonging toor h eld for, by, on account of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, an enemy or ally of enemy not holding a license granted by the President hereunder, which the President after investigation shall determine is so owing or so belongs or is so held, shall be conveyed, transferred, assigned, delivered, or paid over to the Alien Property Custodian, or the same may be seized by the Alien Property Custodian; and all property thus acquired shall be held, administered and disposed of as elsewhere provided in this Act.
'Any requirement made pursuant to this Act, or a duly certified copy thereof, may be filed, registered, or recorded in any office for the filing, registering, or recording of conveyances, transfers, or assignments of any such property or rights as may be covered by such requirement (including the proper office for filing, registering, or recording conveyances, transfers, or assignments of patents, copyrights, trade-marks, or any rights therein or any other rights); and if so filed, registered, or recorded shall impart the same notice and have the same force and effect as a duly executed conveyance, transfer, or assignment to the Alien Property Custodian so filed, registered, or recorded.'