Task: songer_appnatpr

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Intervenors who participated as parties at the courts of appeals should be counted as either appellants or respondents when it can be determined whose position they supported. For example, if there were two plaintiffs who lost in district court, appealed, and were joined by four intervenors who also asked the court of appeals to reverse the district court, the number of appellants should be coded as six.
In some cases there is some confusion over who should be listed as the appellant and who as the respondent. This confusion is primarily the result of the presence of multiple docket numbers consolidated into a single appeal that is disposed of by a single opinion. Most frequently, this occurs when there are cross appeals and/or when one litigant sued (or was sued by) multiple litigants that were originally filed in district court as separate actions. The coding rule followed in such cases should be to go strictly by the designation provided in the title of the case. The first person listed in the title as the appellant should be coded as the appellant even if they subsequently appeared in a second docket number as the respondent and regardless of who was characterized as the appellant in the opinion.
To clarify the coding conventions, consider the following hypothetical case in which the US Justice Department sues a labor union to strike down a racially discriminatory seniority system and the corporation (siding with the position of its union) simultaneously sues the government to get an injunction to block enforcement of the relevant civil rights law. From a district court decision that consolidated the two suits and declared the seniority system illegal but refused to impose financial penalties on the union, the corporation appeals and the government and union file cross appeals from the decision in the suit brought by the government. Assume the case was listed in the Federal Reporter as follows:
United States of America,
Plaintiff, Appellant
v
International Brotherhood of Widget Workers,AFL-CIO
Defendant, Appellee.
International Brotherhood of Widget Workers,AFL-CIO
Defendants, Cross-appellants
v
United States of America.
Widgets, Inc. & Susan Kuersten Sheehan, President & Chairman
of the Board
Plaintiff, Appellants,
v
United States of America,
Defendant, Appellee.
This case should be coded as follows:Appellant = United States, Respondents = International Brotherhood of Widget Workers Widgets, Inc., Total number of appellants = 1, Number of appellants that fall into the category "the federal government, its agencies, and officials" = 1, Total number of respondents = 3, Number of respondents that fall into the category "private business and its executives" = 2, Number of respondents that fall into the category "groups and associations" = 1.
Note that if an individual is listed by name, but their appearance in the case is as a government official, then they should be counted as a government rather than as a private person. For example, in the case "Billy Jones & Alfredo Ruiz v Joe Smith" where Smith is a state prisoner who brought a civil rights suit against two of the wardens in the prison (Jones & Ruiz), the following values should be coded: number of appellants that fall into the category "natural persons" =0 and number that fall into the category "state governments, their agencies, and officials" =2. A similar logic should be applied to businesses and associations. Officers of a company or association whose role in the case is as a representative of their company or association should be coded as being a business or association rather than as a natural person. However, employees of a business or a government who are suing their employer should be coded as natural persons. Likewise, employees who are charged with criminal conduct for action that was contrary to the company policies should be considered natural persons.
If the title of a case listed a corporation by name and then listed the names of two individuals that the opinion indicated were top officers of the same corporation as the appellants, then the number of appellants should be coded as three and all three were coded as a business (with the identical detailed code). Similar logic should be applied when government officials or officers of an association were listed by name.
Your specific task is to determine the total number of appellants in the case that fall into the category "natural persons". If the total number cannot be determined (e.g., if the appellant is listed as "Smith, et. al." and the opinion does not specify who is included in the "et.al."), then answer 99.

DUFFY, Circuit Judge.
This appeal involves a claim for refund of federal income taxes for the years 1954, 1955 and 1956. There is no dispute as to the facts. The question involved is whether amounts received by plaintiff (Oak) under an agreement executed November 9, 1936, with British N.S.F. Company, Ltd. (N.S.F.), as licensee, are taxable as long-term capital gains or as ordinary income. Oak contends that the amounts received by it under Paragraph 5 of the 1936 agreement were installment payments in respect to the sale of capital assets, namely, the patents referred to in the agreement. However, the District Court held the receipts from N.S.F. were ordinary royalty income. The Court emphasized the agreement contained no language of sale.
To determine its legal effect, a somewhat detailed examination of the provisions of the 1936 agreement seems necessary. This agreement purports, in paragraph 1, to be a grant or license by Oak to N.S.F. of “exclusive rights to manufacture and sell all Oak products within all European countries and within all the units of the British Empire including the Irish Free State, with the exception of Canada, in which country Oak reserves the rights to manufacture and sell for itself therein in competition with N.S.F.”
The agreement recites that Oak manufactures switches, vibrators and other electrical parts and designs such parts, and that “ * * * N.S.F. is desirous of establishing a vibrator and switch business and selling such parts and devices or of making such parts and devices themselves and selling them. * * * ”
In paragraph 2 of the agreement, Oak agreed to “ * * * disclose and furnish to N.S.F. all of its products and improvements thereon together with manufacturing methods and processes in connection therewith * * * ” as well as “ * * * all required engineering assistance.”
In paragraph 3, Oak agreed to sell all component parts of Oak products to N. S.F. at cost plus twenty-five percent profit.
In paragraph 4, Oak agreed “ * * * to apply for patent protection in whatever countries it may consider necessary * * * to protect N.S.F. * * Upon Oak’s failure to do so, N.S.F. was given the right to apply for patents in the various countries.
Under paragraph 5, N.S.F. agreed to pay Oak a royalty of five percent of the net selling price of switches and vibrators. Under paragraph 6, the royalties were payable quarterly. Pursuant to the agreement, Oak received from N.S.F. in 1954 the sum of $27,701.81; in 1955, $52,719.36 and in 1956, $62,607.84.
■In paragraph 7, the agreement provided, in part, that N.S.F. would use its best efforts to promote the manufacture and sale of Oak vibrators and switches within its territory, and to disclose to • Oak all engineering processes and all improvements which it may have on Oak parts or products, and agreed at the expense and upon demand by Oak, to execute and assign United States applications for patents covering such improvements.
Paragraph 8 provided, in part, “It Is Understood and Agreed That with respect to complete products N.S.F. occupies the position of an expert sales organization and that it assumes all risks with regard to customers.”
Paragraph 11 provided that N.S.F. might bring patent infringement suits in the name of Oak, paying Oak a royalty on sums recovered. However, Oak could, if it wished, control the prosecution of such suits. It was further provided that the agreement was not assignable by N.S.F. without written permission of Oak, but N.S.F. was permitted to sub-license. The agreement was to last for the duration of any of the English patents and for at least fifteen years.
The 1936 agreement did not describe the patents referred to either by name or number. However, Joint Exhibits 2 and 3 received in evidence do identify each of the patents. There were a number of American patents without any corresponding English patents, but most of the English patents did have corresponding United States patents.
It was stipulated that each of the patents set out in Joint Exhibits 2 and 3 constituted capital assets within the meaning of Sec. 1231 of the 1954 Internal Revenue Code, as amended, 26 U.S.C. § 1231, and had been owned and held by Oak more than six months before licensing same to N.S.F.
It was also stipulated and agreed that neither the license agreement nor the patents constituted property of a kind which would properly be includable in the inventory of Oak within the meaning of Sec. 1231(b) (1) (A) of the 1954 Internal Revenue Code, as amended, nor property held by Oak primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of its trade or business.
The District Court stressed the point that the agreement herein did not contain the language of sale. We do not consider this fact controlling. The transfer of substantially all the rights under the patent or invention is all that is necessary.
The Government points out that the agreement itself characterizes it as a “license agreement” and the amounts payable thereunder to Oak are referred to as “royalties.” Granted this language is a relevant consideration, yet, as stated in Merck & Co. Inc. v. Smith (D.C.1957), 155 F.Supp. 843, 845, aff’d., 3 Cir., 261 F.2d 162, it “ * * * is not controlling and, as a matter of fact, appears to have been given very little weight by the courts.”
Numerous decisions have expressed the same idea. To illustrate: “The fact that the terms ‘licensee,’ ‘sublicense,’ and ‘royalty’ are used is not determinative.” Holcomb v. Commissioner (1958), 30 T. C. 354, 358. Also, “* * * nomenclature of that kind has little if any significance in resolving the question whether the instrument amounted to an assignment or was a license. * * * ” Watson v. United States, 10 Cir., 222 F.2d 689, 691. However, other courts have accorded substantial weight to the parties’ own characterization and treatment of the agreement as indicative of what the parties intended. Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Celanese Corp. of America, 78 U.S.App.D.C. 292, 140 F.2d 339, 340-341; Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Hopkinson, 2 Cir., 126 F.2d 406, 408-410; Kimble Glass Co. v. Commissioner (1947), 9 T.C. 183, 185-186, 190.
A patent is an intangible asset. It is usually transferred by an assignment. If there is a transfer of all the substantial rights in a patent, it is considered an assignment and qualifies the transferor for capital gains treatment. A transfer of anything less is called a license with the resultant assessment of the tax at ordinary income rates. Merck & Co. Inc. v. Smith, 3 Cir., 261 F.2d 162, 164.
The opinions of the courts which have passed on the issue before us are not entirely harmonious. However, certain principles seem to be established. The entire agreement must be examined and analyzed to determine whether substantially all of the rights of the owner of the patent have been assigned and released to the transferee. The retention of the bare legal title may not represent the retention of a substantial right in some cases. See Lawrence v. United States, 5 Cir., 242 F.2d 542. Title 26 U.S.C. § 1235 specifically provides that for a transferor to receive favorable capital gain treatment, “ * * * all substantial rights to a patent” must be transferred.
The United States cites many provisions of the “license” agreement to show that it did not amount to a sale or transfer of the patents. Among these are, 1) certain patents from which “royalties” were received were not in existence at the date of the agreement and hence could not have been sold or transferred; 2) the United States patents conferred no rights in England; 3) the right to “use” the patents covered by the license was omitted; 4) the right to assign the agreement was omitted; 5) Oak retained control over infringement litigation; 6) N.S.F. had only a non-exclusive license in Canada; and 7) the agreement was not for the full period of the patents.
The primary consideration moving from Oak was the promise “ * * * to disclose and furnish to N.S.F. all of its products and improvements thereon together with manufacturing methods and processes in connection therewith * * ” and the promise “ * * * to furnish all required engineering assistance.”
The terms of the agreement contemplated a continuing business relation in the nature of a franchise for the distribution of Oak products in new markets. It was, in reality, the establishment of an agency relationship. There was no intent to transfer the ownership of the patents. At most, Oak merely licensed to N.S.F. certain rights thereunder.
The 1936 agreement provided; “This Agreement is not assignable by N.S.F. without the written permission of Oak.” The subsequent provision for a qualified right to “sublicense others hereunder” makes it clear the prohibition against assignment was a substantial right. The Supreme Court has said that the power to dispose of property is the “equivalent of ownership.” Harrison v. Schaffner, 312 U.S. 579, 580, 61 S.Ct. 759, 85 L.Ed. 1055. The phrase “sublicense others hereunder” and the remainder of the paragraph, is further evidence of the parties’ intent that N.S.F. was not a purchaser or assignee but rather a licensee.
We think the right to control the prosecution of infringement suits was another item in the substantial “bundle of sticks” retained by Oak which prevents the agreement from being considered a sale or transfer. N.S.F. was permitted to sue only in Oak’s name for the infringement of “Oaks Patents.”
Significant also is the provision whereby Oak agreed to apply for patent protection in whatever countries it may consider necessary in order to protect N.S.F. against unauthorized competition. This clause would indicate Oak considered itself to be the complete owner of the patents and N.S.F. to be merely its European licensee or representative.
The provision that the agreement would last for the duration of any English Oak patent and at least fifteen years, indicates that Oak made no attempt to make certain the agreement would continue for the full life of all the patents involved. The life of a United States patent is seventeen years. Again, this is an indication that the agreement was, in fact, a license rather than a sale or transfer.
We hold the District Court reached the correct result. The judgment of the District Court is
Affirmed.

Question: What is the total number of appellants in the case that fall into the category "natural persons"? Answer with a number.
Answer:

Answer: 0