United States v. Zenith Radio Corporation

• Decision Date: 16 April 1926
• Docket Number: No. 14257.,14257.
• Citation: 12 F.2d 614
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. ZENITH RADIO CORPORATION et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

12 F.2d 614 (1926)

UNITED STATES v. ZENITH RADIO CORPORATION et al.

No. 14257.

District Court N. D. Illinois, E. D.

April 16, 1926.

John Elliott Byrne, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Chicago, Ill.

Louis E. Hart and Irving Herriott, both of Chicago, Ill., for defendant.

WILKERSON, District Judge.

The information charges violations of section 1 of the Act of August 13, 1912, c. 287 (37 Stat. 302 Comp. St. § 10100).

The first count alleges that on December 19, 1925, defendant Zenith Radio Corporation used and operated certain apparatus for radio communication, as a means of commercial intercourse among several states of the United States, to wit, from Mt. Prospect, Ill., to Seattle, Wash.; which apparatus was so used and operated not under and in accordance with a license such as described in the act; and that defendant McDonald aided, abetted, and procured the commission of the offense. The second, third, and fourth counts charge offenses on other dates in the same language as count 1.

The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth counts are the same as the first four counts, except that it is charged that the corporation "used and operated certain apparatus for radio communication for the transmission of radiograms and signals, the effect of which then and there extended beyond the jurisdiction of the state in which the same were then and there made."

Section 1 of the act in question prohibits the use of apparatus for radio communication as a means of commercial intercourse among the several states, or with foreign nations, or upon any vessel of the United States engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, or for the transmission of radiograms or signals the effect of which extends beyond the jurisdiction of the state or territory in which the same are made, or where interference would be caused thereby with the receipt of messages or signals from beyond the jurisdiction of said state or territory, except under and in accordance with a license, revocable for cause, granted by the Secretary of Commerce upon application therefor. It is provided:

"Any person, company, or corporation that shall use or operate any apparatus for radio communication in violation of this section, or knowingly aid or abet another person, company, or corporation in so doing, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. * * *"

Section 2 of the act (Comp. St. § 10101) provides:

"Every such license shall be in such form as the Secretary of Commerce (and Labor) shall determine and shall contain the restrictions, pursuant to this act, on and subject to which the license is granted; every such license shall be issued only to citizens of the United States or Porto Rico or to a company incorporated under the laws of some state or territory or of the United States or Porto Rico, and shall specify the ownership and location of the station in which said apparatus shall be used and other particulars for its identification and to enable its range to be estimated; shall state the purpose of the station, and, in case of a station in actual operation at the date of passage of this act, shall contain the statement that satisfactory proof has been furnished that it was actually operating on the above-mentioned date; shall state the wave length or the wave lengths authorized for use by the station for the prevention of interference and the hours for which the station is licensed for work; and shall not be construed to authorize the use of any apparatus for radio communication in any other station than that specified. Every such license shall be subject to the regulations contained herein and such regulations as may be established from time to time by authority of this act or subsequent acts and treaties of the United States. Every such license shall provide that the President of the United States in time of war or public peril or disaster may cause the closing of any station for radio communication and the removal therefrom of all radio apparatus, or may authorize the use or control of any such station or apparatus by any department of the government, upon just compensation to the owners."

Section 4 of the act (Comp. St. § 10103) provides:

"For the purpose of preventing or minimizing interference with communication between stations in which such apparatus is operated, to facilitate radio communication, and to further the prompt receipt of distress signals, said private and commercial stations shall be subject to the regulations of the section. These regulations shall be enforced by the Secretary of Commerce (and Labor) through the collectors of customs and other officers of the government as other regulations herein provided for.

"The Secretary of Commerce (and Labor) may, in his discretion, waive the provisions of any or all of these regulations when no interference of the character above mentioned can ensue."

Among the regulations prescribed in section 4 are the following:

"Normal Wave Length.

"First. Every station shall be required to designate a certain definite wave length as the normal sending and receiving wave length of the station. This wave length shall not exceed six hundred meters or it shall exceed one thousand six hundred meters. Every coastal station open to general public service shall at all times be ready to receive messages of such wave lengths as are required by the Berlin convention. Every ship station, except as hereinafter provided, and every coast station open to general public service shall be prepared to use two sending wave lengths, one of three hundred meters and one of six hundred meters, as required by the international convention in force: Provided, that the Secretary of Commerce (and Labor) may, in his discretion, change the limit of wave length reservation made by regulations first and second to accord with any international agreement to which the United States is a party.

"Other Wave Lengths.

"Second. In addition to the normal sending wave length all stations, except as provided hereinafter in these regulations, may use other sending wave lengths: Provided, that they do not exceed six hundred meters or that they do not exceed one thousand six hundred meters: Provided further, that the character of the waves emitted conforms to the requirements of regulations third and fourth following. * * *

"Division of Time.

"Twelfth. At important seaports and at all other places where naval or military and private or commercial shore stations operate in such close proximity that interference with the work of naval and military stations cannot be avoided by the enforcement of the regulations contained in the foregoing regulations concerning wave lengths and character of signals emitted, such private or commercial shore stations as do interfere with the reception of signals by the naval and military stations concerned shall not use their transmitters during the first fifteen minutes of each hour, local standard time. The Secretary of Commerce (and Labor) may, on the recommendation of the department concerned, designate the station or stations which may be required to observe this division of time. * * *

"General Restrictions on Private Stations.

"Fifteenth. No private or commercial station not engaged in the transaction of bona fide commercial business by radio communication or in experimentation in connection with the development and manufacture of radio apparatus for commercial purposes shall use a transmitting wave length exceeding two hundred meters, or a transformer input exceeding one kilowatt, except by special authority of the Secretary of Commerce (and Labor) contained in the license of the station: Provided, that the owner or operator of a station of the character mentioned in this regulation shall not be liable for a violation of the requirements of the third or fourth regulations to the penalties of one hundred dollars or twenty-five dollars, respectively, provided in this section unless the person maintaining or operating such station shall have been notified in writing that the said transmitter has been found, upon tests conducted by the government, to be so adjusted as to violate the said third and fourth regulations, and opportunity has been given to said owner or operator to adjust said transmitter in conformity with said regulations. * * *

"Penalties.

"For violation of any of these regulations, subject to which a license under sections one and two of this act may be issued, the owner of the apparatus shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars, which may be reduced or remitted by the Secretary of Commerce (and Labor), and for repeated violations of any of such regulations, the license may be revoked.

"For violation of any of these regulations, except as provided in regulation nineteenth, subject to which a license under section three of this act may be issued, the operator shall be subject to a penalty of twenty-five dollars, which may be reduced or remitted by the Secretary of Commerce (and Labor), and for repeated violations of any such regulations, the license shall be suspended or revoked."

The Secretary of Commerce granted a license on September 21, 1925, to defendant corporation, and that license was in effect at the times of the alleged offenses charged in the information. A copy of the license is hereto appended.¹

Among the provisions of the license, the following are to be noted particularly:

"This station to be operated only on Thursday nights from 10 to 12 p. m., Central Standard time, and then only when the use of this period is not desired by the General Electric Company's Denver station. This license is also issued conditionally upon the avoidance of interference with other stations."

"In view of special conditions the station is authorized to use for communication exclusively with stations licensed by the United States the following additional wave lengths under 600 or over 1,600 meters: Meters, 332.4."

The material facts are not in dispute. It is agreed that defendant corporation,...