Auburn Button Co. v. Sylvester
New York Supreme Court
Appeal from special term. Action by the Auburn Button Company against Philip L. Sylvester, impleaded with E. Delevan Woodruff and J. Herman Wood-ruff, to restrain Sylvester from selling or incumbering certain letters patent issued to the other defendants in 1882, and by them assigned to plaintiff in 1883. From a judgment dismissing the complaint, plaintiff appeals. The improvement covered by the letters patent was useful in the manufacture of buttons from plastic material.
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Appeal from special term. Action by the Auburn Button Company against Philip L. Sylvester, impleaded with E. Delevan Woodruff and J. Herman Wood-ruff, to restrain Sylvester from selling or incumbering certain letters patent issued to the other defendants in 1882, and by them assigned to plaintiff in 1883. From a judgment dismissing the complaint, plaintiff appeals. The improvement covered by the letters patent was useful in the manufacture of buttons from plastic material. This was within the business in which the defendants Woodruff were engaged at the time the patent was issued to them.…
1Opinion of the CourtBradley, J.
The claim of preference for the assignment made to the defendant Sylvester in April, 1891, over that made to the plaintiff in 1883, is founded upon the fact that the latter had not been recorded, and by force of the statute which provides that “every patent or any interest therein shall be assignable in law by an instrument in writing. * * * An assignment, grant, or conveyance shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for a valuable consideration without notice, unless it is recorded in the patent office within three (3) months from the date thereof.” Rev. St. U. S. §…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Williamson v. . BrownNew York Court of Appeals · 1857
- Ellis v. . HorrmanNew York Court of Appeals · 1882
3Cited by2 opinions
- Seger v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1902
- Auburn Button Co. v. SilvesterNew York Supreme Court · 1894