Packard Instrument Company, Inc. v. Ans, Inc., Name Changed to Ansitron, Inc., Dero Research and Development Corporation and Ansitron, Inc.

In 1964 Packard Instrument Company, Inc. initiated a patent infringement suit against ANS, Inc. The following year this litigation was settled when the parties exchanged paid-up, royalty free licenses for the disputed external standardization feature which is used in connection with a liquid scintillation spectrometer. The spectrometer is a device that measures infinitesimal radiations from particles; the external standardization feature calibrates the spectrometer to a known standard. Both licenses recited that they were “personal,” and contained limitations on their assignability and…