Unique Balance Co. v. Abraham De Vries

Plaintiff here is an Illinois corporation, and defendant Abraham de Vries a citizen of California. If the allegations of the complaint be taken as true, the following events occurred:

Early in 1948 the parties entered into a written license agreement which provided that in return for royalty payments to be made to defendant, plaintiff was granted exclusive rights to manufacture and sell certain devices covered by defendant’s patent applications. The royalties were to be calculated on the basis of the volume of plaintiff’s production, and plaintiff was itself to keep the appropriate records and determine the royalties due, submitting to defendant monthly reports accompanied by payment. This arrangement continued in effect until November 28, 1956, by which time plaintiff had paid to defendant some $337,000.

In April, 1957, plaintiff discovered that, without defendant’s knowledge, it had overpaid the royalties in each year through 1955, to a total in excess of $57,-000, and had underpaid them in 1956 by some $5,000. Plaintiff thereupon notified defendant and demanded refund of the net overpayment, but defendant refused to return the money. This action was filed June 6,…