50 U.S.C. § 4310 — Acts permitted; applications for patents,

Page 1075 TITLE 50—WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE § 4310 dian, gave the Supreme Court of the District of Colum- bia co-extensive jurisdiction with the District Courts over suits, and inserted proviso permitting the Custo- dian to acquit his responsibility by transferring the property of persons, who were enemies by reason of res- idence in enemy occupied countries, to those persons or their designated representatives. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries CHANGE OF NAME In subsec. (a), act June 25, 1936, substituted ‘‘the dis- trict court of the United States for the District of Co- lumbia’’ for ‘‘the Supreme Court of the District of Co- lumbia’’, and act June 25, 1948, as amended by act May 24, 1949, substituted ‘‘United States District Court for the District of Columbia’’ for ‘‘district court of the United States for the District of Columbia’’. Executive Documents TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS Functions vested by law in Alien Property Custodian and Office of Alien Property Custodian transferred to Attorney General by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1947, § 101, eff. July 1, 1947, 12 F.R. 4534, 61 Stat. 951, set out in the Ap- pendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Em- ployees. § 4310. Acts permitted; applications for patents, or registration of trade-marks or copyrights; payment of tax in relation thereto; licenses under enemy owned patent or copyright; statements by licensees; term and cancella- tion; suits against licensees; restraining in- fringements; powers of attorney; keeping se- cret inventions Nothing contained in this chapter shall be held to make unlawful any of the following acts: (a) Repealed. Aug. 8, 1946, ch. 910, § 13, 60 Stat. 944. (b) Any citizen of the United States, or any corporation organized within the United States, may, when duly authorized by the President, pay to an enemy or ally of enemy any tax, annu- ity, or fee which may be required by the laws of such enemy or ally of enemy nation in relation to patents and trade-marks, prints, labels, and copyrights; and any such citizen or corporation may file and prosecute an application for letters patent or for registration of trade-mark, print, label, or copyright in the country of an enemy, or of an ally of enemy after first submitting such application to the President and receiving license so to file and prosecute, and to pay the fees required by law and customary agents’ fees, the maximum amount of which in each case shall be subject to the control of the President. (c) Any citizen of the United States or any corporation organized within the United States desiring to manufacture, or cause to be manu- factured, a machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or design, or to carry on, or to use any trade-mark, print, label or cause to be car- ried on, a process under any patent or copy- righted matter owned or controlled by an enemy or ally of enemy at any time during the exist- ence of a state of war may apply to the Presi- dent for a license; and the President is author- ized to grant such a license, nonexclusive or ex- clusive as he shall deem best, provided he shall be of the opinion that such grant is for the pub- lic welfare, and that the applicant is able and in- tends in good faith to manufacture, or cause to be manufactured, the machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or design, or to carry on, or cause to be carried on, the process or to use the trade-mark, print, label or copyrighted mat- ter. The President may prescribe the conditions of this license, including the fixing of prices of articles and products necessary to the health of the military and naval forces of the United States or the successful prosecution of the war, and the rules and regulations under which such license may be granted and the fee which shall be charged therefor, not exceeding $100, and not exceeding one per centum of the fund deposited as hereinafter provided. Such license shall be a complete defense to any suit at law or in equity instituted by the enemy or ally of enemy owners of the letters patent, trade-mark, print, label or copyright, or otherwise, against the licensee for infringement or for damages, royalty, or other money award on account of anything done by the licensee under such license, except as pro- vided in subsection (f) hereof. (d) The licensee shall file with the President a full statement of the extent of the use and en- joyment of the license, and of the prices re- ceived in such form and at such stated periods (at least annually) as the President may pre- scribe; and the licensee shall pay at such times as may be required to the alien property custo- dian not to exceed five per centum of the gross sums received by the licensee from the sale of said inventions or use of the trade-mark, print, label or copyrighted matter, or, if the President shall so order, five per centum of the value of the use of such inventions, trade-marks, prints, labels or copyrighted matter to the licensee as established by the President; and sums so paid shall be deposited by said alien property custo- dian forthwith in the Treasury of the United States as a trust fund for the said licensee and for the owner of the said patent, trade-mark, print, label or copyright registration as herein- after provided, to be paid from the Treasury upon order of the court, as provided in sub- section (f) of this section, or upon the direction of the alien property custodian. (e) Unless surrendered or terminated as pro- vided in this chapter, any license granted here- under shall continue during the term fixed in the license or in the absence of any such limita- tion during the term of the patent, trade-mark, print, label, or copyright registration under which it is granted. Upon violation by the li- censee of any of the provisions of this chapter, or of the conditions of the license, the President may, after due notice and hearing, cancel any li- cense granted by him. (f) The owner of any patent, trade-mark, print, label, or copyright 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 in the district court of the United States for the dis- trict in which the said licensee resides, or, if a corporation, in which it has its principal place of business (to which suit the Treasurer of the United States shall be made a party), for recov- ery from the said licensee for all use and enjoy- ment of the said patented invention, trade- mark, print, label, or copyrighted matter: Pro- Page 1076 TITLE 50—WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE § 4310 vided, however, That whenever suit is brought, as above, notice shall be filed with the alien prop- erty custodian within thirty days after date of entry of suit: Provided further, That the licensee may make any and all defenses which would be available were no license granted. The court on due proceedings had may adjudge and decree to the said owner payment of a reasonable royalty. 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; and the said payment shall be in full or partial satisfaction of said judgment and decree, as the facts may appear; and if, after payment of all such judgments and decrees, there shall remain any balance of said deposit, such balance shall be repaid to the li- censee on order of the alien property custodian. If no suit is brought within one year after the end of the war, or no notice is filed as above re- quired, then the licensee shall not be liable to make any further deposits, and all funds depos- ited by him shall be repaid to him on order of the alien property custodian. Upon entry of suit and notice filed as above required, or upon re- payment of funds as above provided, the liabil- ity of the licensee to make further reports to the President shall cease. If suit is brought as above provided, the court may, at any time, terminate the license, and may, in such event, issue an injunction to re- strain the licensee from infringement there- after, or the court, in case the licensee, prior to suit, shall have made investment of capital based on possession of the license, may continue the license for such period and upon such terms and with such royalties as it shall find to be just and reasonable. In the case of any such patent, trade-mark, print, label, or copyright, conveyed, assigned, transferred, or delivered to the Alien Property Custodian or seized by him, any suit brought under this subsection, within the time limited therein, shall be considered as having been brought by the owner within the meaning of this subsection, in so far as such suit relates to roy- alties for the period prior to the sale by the Alien Property Custodian of such patent, trade- mark, print, label, or copyright, if brought ei- ther by the Alien Property Custodian or by the person who was the owner thereof immediately prior to the date such patent, trade-mark, print, label, or copyright was seized or otherwise ac- quired by the Alien Property Custodian. (g) Any enemy, or ally of enemy, may insti- tute and prosecute suits in equity against any person other than a licensee under this chapter to enjoin infringement of letters patent, trade- mark, print, label, and copyrights in the United States owned or controlled by said enemy or ally of enemy, in the same manner and to the extent that he would be entitled so to do if the United States was not at war: Provided, That no final judgment or decree shall be entered in favor of such enemy or ally of enemy by any court except after thirty days’ notice to the alien property custodian. Such notice shall be in writing and shall be served in the same manner as civil process of Federal courts. (h) All powers of attorney heretofore or here- after granted by an enemy or ally of enemy to any person within the United States, in so far as they may be requisite to the performance of acts authorized in subsections (a) and (g) of this sec- tion, shall be valid. (i) Whenever the publication of an invention by the granting of a patent may, in the opinion of the President, be detrimental to the public safety or defense, or may assist the enemy or endanger the successful prosecution of the war, he may order that the invention be kept secret and withhold the grant of a patent until the end of the war: Provided, That the invention dis- closed in the application for said patent may be held abandoned upon it being established before or by the Under Secretary of Commerce for In- tellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office that, in violation of said order, said invention has been published or that an application for a patent therefor has been filed in any other country, by the inventor or his assigns or legal representa- tives, without the consent or approval of the commissioner or under a license of the Presi- dent. When an applicant whose patent is withheld as herein provided and who faithfully obeys the order of the President above referred to shall tender his invention to the Government of the United States for its use, he shall, if he ulti- mately receives a patent, have the right to sue for compensation in the United States Court of Federal Claims, such right to compensation to begin from the date of the use of the invention by the Government. (Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, § 10, 40 Stat. 420; Mar. 10, 1928, ch. 167, § 19, 45 Stat. 277; Aug. 8, 1946, ch. 910, § 13, 60 Stat. 944; Pub. L. 97–164, title I, § 160(a)(17), Apr. 2, 1982, 96 Stat. 48; Pub. L. 102–572, title IX, § 902(b)(1), Oct. 29, 1992, 106 Stat. 4516; Pub. L. 106–113, div. B, § 1000(a)(9) [title IV, § 4732(b)(26)], Nov. 29, 1999, 113 Stat. 1536, 1501A–585.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original ‘‘this Act’’, meaning act Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, 40 Stat. 411, known as the Trading with the enemy Act, also known as the Trading with the Enemy Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 4301 of this title and Tables. CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified to section 10 of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassi- fication and renumbering as this section. PRIOR PROVISIONS The provisions of subsection (i) of this section are similar to the provisions of act Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 95, 40 Stat. 394, which was repealed and superseded by act Feb. 1, 1952, ch. 4, 66 Stat. 3. Act Feb. 1, 1952, was re- pealed by act July 19, 1952, ch. 950, § 5, 66 Stat. 815. See section 181 of Title 35. AMENDMENTS 1999—Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 106–113 substituted ‘‘Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’’ for ‘‘Commissioner of Patents’’. 1992—Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 102–572 substituted ‘‘United States Court of Federal Claims’’ for ‘‘United States Claims Court’’. Page 1077 TITLE 50—WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE § 4312 1982—Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 97–164 substituted ‘‘United States Claims Court’’ for ‘‘Court of Claims’’. 1946—Subsec. (a). Act Aug. 8, 1946, repealed subsec. (a). 1928—Subsec. (f). Act Mar. 10, 1928, added par. at end. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1999 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 106–113 effective 4 months after Nov. 29, 1999, see section 1000(a)(9) [title IV, § 4731] of Pub. L. 106–113, set out as a note under section 1 of Title 35, Patents. EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1992 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 102–572 effective Oct. 29, 1992, see section 911 of Pub. L. 102–572, set out as a note under section 171 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure. EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1982 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 97–164 effective Oct. 1, 1982, see section 402 of Pub. L. 97–164, set out as a note under section 171 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Proce- dure. Executive Documents TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS Functions vested by law in Alien Property Custodian and Office of Alien Property Custodian transferred to Attorney General by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1947, § 101, eff. July 1, 1947, 12 F.R. 4534, 61 Stat. 951, set out in the Ap- pendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Em- ployees. § 4311. Importations prohibited Whenever during the present war the Presi- dent shall find that the public safety so requires and shall make proclamation thereof it shall be unlawful to import into the United States from any country named in such proclamation any article or articles mentioned in such proclama- tion except at such time or times, and under such regulations or orders, and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President shall prescribe, until otherwise ordered by the President or by Congress: Provided, however, That no preference shall be given to the ports of one State over those of another. (Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, § 11, 40 Stat. 422.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified to section 11 of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassi- fication and renumbering as this section. § 4312. Property transferred to Alien Property Custodian All moneys (including checks and drafts pay- able on demand) paid to or received by the alien property custodian pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited forthwith in the Treasury of the United States, and may be invested and re- invested by the Secretary of the Treasury in United States bonds or United States certifi- cates of indebtedness, under such rules and regu- lations as the President shall prescribe for such deposit, investment, and sale of securities; and as soon after the end of the war as the President shall deem practicable, such securities shall be sold and the proceeds deposited in the Treasury. All other property of an enemy, or ally of enemy, conveyed, transferred, assigned, deliv- ered, or paid to the alien property custodian hereunder shall be safely held and administered by him except as hereinafter provided; and the President is authorized to designate as a deposi- tary, or depositaries, of property of an enemy or ally of enemy, any bank, or banks, or trust com- pany, or trust companies, or other suitable de- positary or depositaries, located and doing busi- ness in the United States. The alien property custodian may deposit with such designated de- positary or depositaries, or with the Secretary of the Treasury, any stocks, bonds, notes, time drafts, time bills of exchange, or other securi- ties, or property (except money or checks or drafts payable on demand which are required to be deposited with the Secretary of the Treasury) and such depositary or depositaries shall be au- thorized and empowered to collect any dividends or interest or income that may become due and any maturing obligations held for the account of such custodian. Any moneys collected on said account shall be paid and deposited forthwith by said depositary or by the alien property custo- dian into the Treasury of the United States as hereinbefore provided. The President shall require all such des- ignated depositaries to execute and file bonds sufficient in his judgment to protect property on deposit, such bonds to be conditioned as he may direct. 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 pursu- ance of the provisions of this chapter, and, in addition thereto, acting under the supervision and direction of the President, and under such rules and regulations as the President shall pre- scribe, shall have power to manage such prop- erty 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 appur- tenant thereto or to the ownership thereof in like manner as though he were the absolute owner thereof: Provided, That any property sold under this chapter except when sold to the United States, shall be sold only to American citizens, at public sale to the highest bidder, after public advertisement of time and place of sale which shall be where the property or a major portion thereof is situated, unless the President stating the reasons therefor, in the public interest shall otherwise determine: Pro- vided further, That when sold at public sale, the alien property custodian upon the order of the President stating the reasons therefor, shall have the right to reject all bids and resell such property at public sale or otherwise as the President may direct. Any person purchasing property from the alien property custodian for an undisclosed principal, or for re-sale to a per- son not a citizen of the United States, or for the benefit of a person not a citizen of the United States, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000, or imprisonment for not more