John Hessin Clarke

“ While the legal effect of the terms used, and not the name applied to the instrument containing them, will determine whether a transfer is an assignment or a license, nevertheless the language used is often, as in this case, of great significance in determining what that legal effect shall be. ”

“ The allegations are that prior to 1907 Armstrong & Co. licensed Whitehead & Co., a British corporation, to 'use and exercise' its superheater inventions patented in Great Britain and in the United States, but subject to the rights of appellant under its contract of 1905; that in June, 1907, the appellant granted a request by the defendant for permission to purchase from Whitehead & Co. not more than 100 torpedoes containing the 'superheater' invention, thea mount of royalty 'to be later settled' ”

“ The appellant alleges that it was the owner of two United States patents issued in 1902, covering the 'superheater' device, and that in 1905 it entered into a written contract with the Armstrong Company, a British corporation, for the use of improvements in 'superheaters' owned by that company and at the time protected in Great Britain by a provisional specification for a patent. ”