Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Limitations Upon The Use, After Sale, Of Patented Articles, John B. Waite

Articles

In the case of Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Co., 37 Sup. Ct. 416, the Supreme Court has just rendered a decision which reverses the much discussed case of Henry v. Dick Co., 224 U. S. 1. The opinion was by a divided court, however, as three of the justices dissented, and Justice McREYNOLDS "concurred in the result" only. It can, therefore, hardly be said to settle the ultimate rule as in contradiction to that followed in Henry v. Dick Co., and discussion of the case is of something more than mere academic value. The facts were that …

The Patentability Of A Principle Of Nature, John B. Waite

Articles

The extent to which courts will go in conceding patentability to a natural law, or principle of nature, is evidenced in the case of Minerals Separation Co. v. Hyde, 37 Sup. Ct. -, decided by the Supreme Court, December 11, 1916. It has always been more or less an axiom of patent law that the discovery of a principle of nature does not entitle the discoverer to a patent for it. The case usually thought of first as authority therefor, is that of Morton v. New York Eye Infirmary, 5 Blatch. 116, 2 Fisher 320. The patentees in that case …

Restrictions On The Use Of Patented Articles, Edward S. Rogers

Michigan Law Review

The case of Henry v. Dick recently decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, has occasioned considerable unfavorable comment in the public press. It seems to be the opinion of many that the decision lays down a new principle of law, particularly adaptable to the working of a monopoly, and that the public is, under the supposed new principle, exposed to a practically unlimited exploitation by any patentee. It is believed that neither of these contentions is correct.

Rights Of A Traveler To Use Here Articles Made And Purchased Abroad But Patented Here, Dwight B. Cheever

Michigan Law Review

The question to be answered by this paper is whether or not when an American citizen goes abroad and purchases there from a manufacturer in any foreign country any article whatsoever be it wearing apparel or an automobile which is patented in this country has such a purchaser the right to bring that article into this country and to use it in this country without paying tribute to the American patentee or his assignee. As to small articles the question is of course unimportant, for no one would think of going to the expense of a suit over the use …

The Proposed Court Of Patent Appeals, Otto Raymond Barnett

Michigan Law Review

Experience has demonstrated that nowhere was the foresight and wisdom of the framers of the Federal Constitution more clearly shown than when they embodied in that instrument the provision that to encourage progress in science and the useful arts, Congress should have authority to secure to writers and inventors for limited times, exclusive rights to their productions. When the Federal Constitution was drafted, the manufacturing industries of this country were insignificant. Since then the industrial progress of the United States has been one of the marvels of the world's history and this progress and the supremacy of American manufacturers have …

Rights Of Joint Owners Of A Patent, Dwight B. Cheever

Michigan Law Review

0wing to the fact that the courts have decided the question Squite at variance from the expectations of ordinary persons, there is, perhaps, no legal proposition in patent law more interesting or important than that of the rights of joint owners of a patent. The relationship may arise from the parties being joint inventors, by their being joint assignees from the inventor or previous owner, or by the most common method, of one being an assignee from the patentee of a fractional interest in a patent; frequently in consideration of paying the expense of procuring the patent. By authority of …

Rights Of Employer And Employee To Inventions Made By Either During The Relationship, Dwight B. Cheever

Michigan Law Review

The interesting and difficult question not infrequently arises, what are the respective rights of employer and employee to inventions made by either during the continuance of the relation. While the constantly occurring cases are almost always complicated by special and peculiar facts which must modify to a greater or less extent the decision to be reached in the particular case, it is believed that the following review of the controlling principles and leading cases on the subiect will be of assistance. Since the courts have repeatedly said that "no one is-antitled to a patent for that which he did not …

Sarony V. Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co., Henry W. Rogers

Articles

Commenting in the Federal Reporter on this Opinion, Professor Rogers considers at length this case bearing on definitions of copyright and artistic properties. "This was an action at law for the violation of the plaintiff's copyright of a photograph of Oscar Wilde, which the defendant had copied by the process known as chromo-lithography.... A jury was waived, and the case was argued upon questions of law only, which appear in the opinion."

"The contention of the defendant, briefly stated, is this: That there was no constitutional warrant for this act; that a photographer is not an author, and a photograph …