Haserot

This is an action to cancel an assignment of plaintiff’s interest in a patent and to compel defendant to account for the profits gained by him by reason of the assignment. The gravamen of the action is fraud on the part of defendant, by reason whereof plaintiff was induced to execute the assignment. Judgment passed for plaintiff and defendant appeals.

The facts as found by the trial court in response to issues tendered by the pleadings are substantially these: Plaintiff and defendant were friends and neighbors residing in the city of Los Angeles. On July 18, 1917, the parties executed a written agreement, the embodiment of a similar oral agreement previously entered into by them on June 1, 1917. The written agreement, after reciting that defendant is the inventor of an automobile windshield improvement, that he desires to make application to the United States government for letters patent and that both parties desire to exploit the invention to the best possible advantage, sets forth, among other covenants, the following: (1) Plaintiff agrees to hear the expense of securing the patent, to pay to defendant the sum of $250* after the patent shall have been issued, to bear the…