Standard Oil Company (Indiana) v. United States
United States Supreme Court
283 U.S. 163 (1931)
Relevant factsFree
Standard Oil and other companies (defendants) holding competing petroleum-cracking patents entered cross-licensing agreements pooling patents and dividing royalties, together controlling 55% of the nation's cracking capacity, though cracked gasoline made up only about 26% of total gasoline production; the government (plaintiff) sued under the Sherman Act, alleging the arrangement let the companies maintain artificially high royalty rates, and the district court ruled for the government.
IssueFree
Whether an agreement pooling patents and dividing royalties among the parties violates the Sherman Act when not used to create a monopoly or otherwise unreasonably restrain trade.