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Show CLEARING AWAY ALL OBSTACLES Aircraft Production Allows of Patent-pooling Plan for Government Service. WASHINGTON. Oct, 12. Legal approval ap-proval has been given the agreoment between the aircraft production board and the airplane manufacturers' association, asso-ciation, clearing away a possible serious se-rious obstacle to the government's $640,000,000 aircraft program. Attor-. Attor-. ney General Gregory has held, It was I learned today, that the patent pooling plan to prevent patent litigation docs not violnte the Sherman anti-trust act. The effect of the opinion is to ratify rati-fy all tho work done by the aircraft production board and the advisory committee for aeronautics, and insure the employment of the entire producing produc-ing capacity of the country on the big Job. The pooling agreement, in gener.il terms, provides for the pooling In tho airplane manufacturers' association of the basic airplane patents known as the Wright and Curtiss patents and also of all other airplane patents now held or hereaflcr developed by members mem-bers of the association. Provision is made for royalty payments pay-ments at $200 a machine, a reduction to about one-fifth of the sum asked by patent holders before the plan was worked out. With the exception of $25 assigned to maintain the association, associa-tion, the royalty goes to holders of con-; con-; trolling patents. A maximum limit of $2,000,000 is fixed, however, for each of the Wright and Curtiss claims. The plan Is a substitute worked out by the advisory committee for aeronautics aero-nautics for that proposed in the act of congress appropriating $1,000,000 for government purchase of basic airplane patents and authorizing condemnation proceedings if necessary. The effect of the whole scheme has been to reduce the pre-war cost of airplanes to the government by fifty per cent with the probability that It will bo halved again owing to quantity production contracts as the work progresses. prog-resses. oo |