Emmons v. Sladdin

8 F. Cas. 681, 2 Ban. & A. 199
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts
DecidedDecember 15, 1875
DocketCase No. 4,470
StatusPublished

This text of 8 F. Cas. 681 (Emmons v. Sladdin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Emmons v. Sladdin, 8 F. Cas. 681, 2 Ban. & A. 199 (circtdma 1875).

Opinion

SHEPLEY, Circuit Judge.

Letters patent of Great Britain were duly granted to James Ellis, of Bradford, in the county of York, England, and the respondent, Joseph Sladdin, then of Halifax, in the same county, now of Lawrence in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, for an invention of Joseph Sladdin, in improvements in machinery for the manufacture of healds.

Sladdin and Ellis, the patentees, after the grant of said letters patent, by an instrument under seal, dated December 17, 1864, after reciting the grant and enrolment of said letters patent, and of an agreement with one David Bowlas for a sale to him of “the said invention and letters patent and also of all letters patent or extensions to be hereafter obtained on account of the said invention,” and also of a machine constructed on the principle of said patented invention, and of the models, patterns, and other appurtenances granted, assigned, and confirmed to Bowlas, his executors, administrators, and assigns, “all that and those the said recited •invention and letters patent, and also all and singular the benefits, privileges, and advantages arising out of or to be derived from the said invention and letters patent, and also all and singular other the letters patent •and extensions of time thereof to be hereafter obtained on account thereof, and all models, patterns, and other matters, explanations thereof in the possession or power of the said James Ellis and Joseph Sladdin, .and all the right, title, interest, claim, and demand of the said James Ellis and Joseph Sladdin, and each of them in, to, out of, or upon the said several premises, and also the said machine.”

The habendum clause in the indenture is absolute as to the machine, models, patterns, and appurtenances, and as to the invention and letters patent “for all the remainder, now to come and unexpired of the said term granted by the said letters patent, and of every other term and interest and extension thereof to be hereafter granted therein.”

Sladdin and Ellis, after the usual covenants of title, covenant, among other things, that they “will not at any time or times hereafter during the residue or remainder of the said term of fourteen years, or for or during any other term or interest hereby assigned or intended so to be, make, do, or execute, or knowingly or willingly permit, or sutler any act, deed, matter, or thing whatsoever, whereby or by reason or means whereof the •said letters patent and privileges, or any part thereof, can, shall, or may be revoked, repealed, canceled, avoided, determined, or prejudicially affected in any manner howsoever, or whereby, or by reason or means whereof the said David Bowlas, his executors, administrators, or assigns, may, can, or shall be in any wise prevented or hindered from or impeded in or about the having, receiving, taking, exercising, or enjoying the said privileges, letters patent, and premises hereby assigned, or intended so to be, or any part thereof, to and for his and their own use and benefit for and during all the residue and remainder of the said term of fourteen years, and for and during all other the term, right, and interest therein hereby granted or assigned, or intended so to be, and every part thereof.”

Then follows a covenant for further assurance at the request and cost of said Bow-las to execute and perfect all acts, deeds, and assurances for more effectually assuring the said invention, letters patent, and premises, and also for extending the time, and also for enabling him to prosecute necessary suits in the event of any infringement. They further covenant that they will not, nor will either of them, during the time for which said patent was granted, or during any extended time which may be granted therefor, malee, sell, or cause to be made or sold, any other machine for the purposes to which the said machine is applicable, all or any of them, and that they and each of them will, until the said patent and any extension thereof be fully expired, refer to the said David Bowlas, his executors, administrators, and assigns, all inquiries having reference to the said patent and to machines to be made thereunder or with reference thereto, and that they or either of them will not, without the consent and permission of the said David Bowlas, his executors, administrators, or assigns, make any more machines of a like character, or invent or introduce any machine or invention to supersede or compete with the invention of the said letters patent, or in any way to disadvantage the patent right or privileges hereby assigned.

Afterward, on or about August 4, 186S, Joseph Sladdin procured letters patent of the United States to be issued to himself and Lord, the other respondent in this ease, for improvement in machines for making loom-harness, which letters patent were afterward, for defective and insufficient description and specification, surrendered, and new letters patent for the same invention, on two separate amended specifications, were reissued in two divisions, numbered, respectively, 4,509 and 4,510.

Subsequent to the assignment of the English patent to Bowlas, and before the issuing of the letters patent of the United States, the complainants, Emmons and Nichols, respectively, each purchased of David Bowlas, the owner of the invention and letters pat[683]*683ent, machines for making loom-harness, embracing in their construction the principles of said invention, with the right to use said machines, and imported them into the United States, and have since severally used said machines in their respective manufactories. Thereupon, during the year 1872, Sladdin and Lord, named as patentees in the letters patent of the United States, filed bills of complaint in this court against Emmons and Nichols, respectively, alleging infringement of the letters patent of the United States by the use of the machines purchased of Bowlas and “built in England, embracing the same improvements which are patented in .this country, as aforesaid in said reissued patents.”

While these suits for infringement were pending, David Bowlas, having deceased in 1874, his executors and personal representatives executed an instrument under seal purporting to convey to the complainants, Em-mons and Nichols, the reissued letters patent of the United States Nos. 4,509 and 4,510; and the original letters patent on which they were reissued, the invention in said letters patent described, and all the rights, powers, privileges, benefits, advantages, and all and every other matter, interest, and thing which were conveyed by the assignment from Ellis and Sladdin to David Bowlas.

The bill of Emmons and Nichols, the complainants, alleges these facts, and avers that, by force of the assignment to Bowlas of the invention and of the covenants and agreements in that indenture, the interest in the letters patent of the United States, and the reissued letters patent Nos. 4,509 and 4.510, was vested in Bowlas and his legal representatives, and secured to him and them the exclusive right and liberty of making, vending, and using in the United States the invention specified and claimed in the amended specifications Nos. 4.509 and 4,510; and that, in virtue and by force of the assignment and conveyance from the executors of the estate of Bowlas to the complainants, the reissued letters patent of the United States and the invention therein recited, and the ■English patent and the invention therein recited, became the property and letters patent of the complainants.

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Bluebook (online)
8 F. Cas. 681, 2 Ban. & A. 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/emmons-v-sladdin-circtdma-1875.