127 N.Y. 125 | NY | 1891
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The rights of the plaintiffs rested wholly in the license granted to them by Mrs. Judson, the patentee. And so far as their remedy was dependent solely upon the enforcement of the contract, it was within the jurisdiction of the state court. (Hyatt v. Ingalls,
And while the defendant, by the assignment to him, took such right only as his assignor had, and in practical effect became subject to the responsibilities attending the title, the nature of the remedy against them was or might differ in so far that, as against her, it might rest upon her contract, while against the defendant it was necessarily founded upon a violation or invasion of the alleged rights of the plaintiffs, subject to which the defendant had taken the assignment. Both cases would alike depend upon the interpretation of the contract, and the results would be governed by the same principle of measurement; but while the former might rest upon the contract and its breach, the latter was founded upon the rights of the plaintiffs derived from the contract and the alleged violation of them by the defendant. This distinction is entitled to no consideration except in its bearing upon the question of jurisdiction of the state court. And in that respect it is not free from difficulty. If such violation of the rights and privileges of the plaintiffs derived from their license was an infringement by the defendant within the meaning of that term as applied to patents, the remedy was exclusively within the jurisdiction of the federal courts. And inLittlefield v. Perry (21 Wall. 205), it was held that a patentee may be an infringer of rights under a patent which he has assigned, and it was there said that his licensee could maintain an action for such cause against him. No reason appears why the rule so applicable to a patentee may not, for like cause, be available against his assignee. The cases cited by the court at General *132
Term in support of the position that the state court had not jurisdiction, were Continental Store Service Co. v. Clark (
The judgment entered upon the order of the General Term, so far as it dismissed the complaint, should be reversed, in other respects affirmed and a new trial granted, costs to abide the event.
All concur, except BROWN, J., not sitting.
Judgment accordingly.