General Talking Pictures Corp. v. Western Electric Co.

Almost a century ago, this Court asserted, and time after time thereafter it has reasserted, that when an article described in a patent is sold and “passes to the hands of a purchaser, it is no longer within the limits of the monopoly. It passes outside of it, and is no longer under the protection of the act of Congress. . . . Contracts in relation to it are regulated by the laws of the State, and are subject to State jurisdiction.” 1

*129A single departure from this judicial interpretation of the patent statute2 was expressly overruled within five years, and this Court again reasserted that…