De La Vergne Refrigerating MacHine Co. v. Featherstone
Supreme Court of the United States
- CERTIFICATE FROM THE' CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT. This was a bill in equity charging appellees with infringement of letters patent of the United States No. 175,020, issued to “ James Boyle, his heirs or assigns,” March 21, 1876, for an improvement in gas-liquefying pumps.
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- CERTIFICATE FROM THE' CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT. This was a bill in equity charging appellees with infringement of letters patent of the United States No. 175,020, issued to “ James Boyle, his heirs or assigns,” March 21, 1876, for an improvement in gas-liquefying pumps. The bill set forth, among other things, a full history of the proceedings before the Patent Office, and alleged that, shortly after filing his application for the patent, James Boyle- died, .and that thereafter his administrator, who was also an assignee of a half interest, prosecuted the application,…
1Opinion of the CourtChief Justice Fullee
The grant was to “ J ames Boyle, his heirs or assigns,” and in this followed the language of section 4884 of the Revised Statutes. But although Boyle made the application, he was dead at the time the patent issued, and it was therefore held by the Circuit Court that the patent was utterly void for want of a grantee.
The reasoning of the court was that all the rights and remedies of inventors to the exclusive property in' their inventions . come from the statute, and that under sections 4886, 4895 and 4896 only three classes of persons are recognized to whom a patent for an invention can issue,…
2Cases cited11 opinions
- Gayler v. WilderSupreme Court of the United States · 1851
- Patterson v. KentuckySupreme Court of the United States · 1879
- Railroad Co. v. TrimbleSupreme Court of the United States · 1870
- Wilson v. RousseauSupreme Court of the United States · 1846
- Hartshorn v. DaySupreme Court of the United States · 1857
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- American Safety Table Co. v. SchreiberCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1959
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