American Woodlite Corp. v. Woodlite Corp.

This action was begun by the plaintiff to declare that a contract made between the Berkeley Light Corporation, plaintiff’s assignor, and the defend ants Duryea and Atwood be canceled and terminated and for an injunction preventing the defendants from asserting any claim thereunder. The judgment of the superior court was for the plaintiff and the defendants appeal.

The plaintiff was the owner of a number of patents covering improvements in light projections, particularly as applied to automobile headlights. In March, 1923, plaintiff’s assignor made a contract with the defendants Atwood and Duryea herein whereby the latter secured an exclusive license to sell lenses and commodities covered and protected by said patents throughout the United States and Canada.

The essential provisions of the contract about which the controversy of the parties to this litigation centered are as follows (the numbers are as they appear upon the original contract):

After the contract of March 10, 1923, was entered into and on the thirty-first day of July, 1923, the licensees, Duryea and Atwood, formed a Delaware corporation with a capital of $500,000 to carry out the terms of the contract entered into…