Standard Oil Company (Indiana) v. United States

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.