Re Morey's Patent
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 03 June 1858 |
| Date | 03 June 1858 |
| Court | High Court of Chancery |
English Reports Citation: 53 E.R. 759
ROLLS COURT
S. C. 6 W. R. 612.
[581] In re morey's patent. June '2, 3, 1858. [S. C. 6 W. R. 612.] As to the jurisdiction of the Court to " expunge, vacate and vary " entries on the " Register of Proprietors " of patents under the 15 & l(i of Viet. c. 83, s. 38. The Court can, on motion, expunge an entry fraudulently made, and can direct any facts relating to the proprietorship to be inserted on the register; but not the legal inferences to be drawn from them. A patentee assigned half the patent to A., and afterwards he assigned the whole to B., by a deed, reciting that he had already granted a licence to work and use to A. B.'s assignment was first registered. Held, that B. had constructive notice of A.'s rights, and an entry was ordered, on motion, to be made in the register that the licence referred to in B.'s assignment was the deed of assignment to A., subsequently entered. In 1849 Morey obtained a patent for making a sewing machine. On the 13th of January 1851 Morey, in consideration of £200, assigned one-half the patent to Mather, and on the next day (14th of January 1851) another agreement was entered into between them, whereby Mather was to have the sole right of making the machines, and the prices to be charged for the machines and for the right of user of them were regulated between them. Mather neglected to register the assignment of the 13th of January 1851 in the register of proprietors in the Great Seal Patent Office until the 5th of August 1857. In the meantime, on the 21st of June 1853, there was registered, in the register of proprietors, an indenture of the 4th of February 1853, whereby Morey assigned the whole patent to Johnson,'in consideration of £800. This deed recited Johnson's agreement to purchase from Morey the patent and all his rights thereunder, " ace ami except a licence to work and use a portion of the said invention, which is described or referred to in the specification thereof, with reference to a drawing marked A., already granted to Mather, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, machinest." [582] A motion was now made, on behalf of Mather, under the 15 & 16 Viet. c. 83, s. 83, that the entry on the register of the deed of February 1853 might be expunged or vacated, or that it might be varied by restricting the same to one moiety of the patent, and as to such one moiety, subject to the memorandum of the 14th of January 1851. Mr. Roundell Palmer...
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