Jonathan Mills Manuf'g Co. v. Whitehurst

65 F. 996, 1894 U.S. App. LEXIS 3152

Opinion

SAGE, District Judge.

I have examined the proofs and briefs ’presented upon the hearing of the petition for rehearing. I find 'that the proofs support the averments of the petition. The decree in the Wayne county circuit court of Michigan in the suit of Bufus H. Emerson and Zenas O. Eldrid, receivers, against George T. Smith et al. is conclusive upon the proposition that George T. Smith (under whom the complainant: herein claims), held the title to the patent in suit in trust for the George T. Smith Middlings Purifier Company, and that the complainants in that suit, as receivers of said company, were entitled to have the same assigned and transferred to them for the interest of the creditors of the George T. Smith Middlings Purifier Company. The decree ordered that George T. Smith, with his wife, Eliza B. Smith, and one Weadock, forthwith execute and deliver to said receivers the patents involved in said suit, including patent No. 267,098, on which this suit is based. Said parties, and each of them, were by said decree perpetually enjoined and restrained from assigning, transferring, or in any manner disposing of or using any letters patent, licenses, applications, or patent interests mentioned or described in said decree, which remains to this day unappealed from and in full force.

It further appears from the proofs that the assignment ordered as above was executed and delivered by said George T. Smith, Eliza B. Smith, and Weadock to said receivers, of the several patents set forth in said decree, including said patent No. 267,098, on the 7th of June, 189.3, and recorded June 16, 1893, in the records of the United States patent office. The complainant had full notice of the rights of said George T. Smith Middlings Purifier Company and of said receivers. The objection that the decree goes beyond the a vecinen is of the bill is not well founded. The bill set out a contract between said George T. Smith and the George T. Smith Middlings Purifier Company, by which it appears that said purifier company became vested with the entire right and title to patents therein enumerated, together with the right to an assignment and transfer to it of all other patents which said George T. Smith should thereafter procure for improvements in milling or mill machinery. Said contract was executed on the 25th day of April, 1878.

It is further averred in the bill that the complainants, by virtue of the terms and provisions of said contract, became entitled to all the patents held in the name of George T. Smith, and all the rights and interests in patents obtained by him in connection with other persons; that, when obtained, they in equity became the property and rights of the George T. Smith Middlings Purifier Company, and they so continued up to the date of the assignment; and, further, George T. Smith thereafter held the legal title to all said patents in trust, for said purifier company. The prayer of the bill is that the defendants George T. Smith and others be required to answer and set forth all the patents and patent interests of every character, not only of patents mentioned as being in his name, and in which he had an interest, but all applications for patents pending; and that George T. Smith be required to discover what other and further applications for patents he then had, either at that time or at the time of any assignment made by him. Patent No. 267,098 is not specifically mentioned in the bill, but the general averments quoted are ample to include it. It is, however, specifically mentioned in the decree and in the deed of assignment and transfer made in pursuance thereof, as above set forth. Even if it had been mentioned in the decree, and not in the bill, and the decree were erroneous, therefore, in so far as it included that patent, it could not be attacked collaterally in this or any other court, the Wayne county circuit court having had jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the person. I do not deem it necessary to consider the questions arising upon the transfer by Jonathan Mills to the Cummer Engine Company, deeming the decree of the Wayne county circuit court and the assignment made thereunder a sufficient and complete defense to the hill. The petition for rehearing is sustained, and the bill will be dismissed at the’costs of the complainant