First Security Trust Co. v. Mitchell
First Security Trust Co. v. Mitchell
Opinion of the Court
This suit is brought by a trustee for the benefit of Virginia Mitchell, a minor adopted daughter of the defendant Benjamin A. Mitchell and of his former wife Minnie I. Mitchell. Its principal object is to obtain for the minor one third of the defendant Mitchell’s share in the past and future royalties derived from a certain patent which is owned jointly by the defendant Mitchell and by one Kyle.
In 1921 Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell were divorced. Under date of April 1, 1922, they entered into an agreement in writing with each other. By the first paragraph of this agreement Benjamin A. Mitchell granted to Minnie I. Mitchell a one-third undivided interest in all future patents and inventions involving the principles of “the Vibrator,” so called, more particularly described as “all future inventions of B. A. Mitchell involving any and all of the principles herein set forth.” The second paragraph, under which the plaintiff’s claim arises, reads as follows: “2. The said B. A. Mitchell does give and grant for the considerations herein named to the said Minnie I. Mitchell a one-third (|) undivided interest in and to all other inventions not herein named and described which he may invent, to be owned by her and to revert to Virginia Mitchell, a girl five years of age, the daughter of B. A. Mitchell and Minnie I. Mitchell when the said Minnie I. Mitchell shall remarry or shall die; in the case of her remarriage she shall transfer in trust to a Trust Company the one-third (]) undivided interest in and to all inventions named in this paragraph not involving the principles of said Vibrator for the use and benefit of Virginia Mitchell, their minor child, the income of which shall be payable to her for her maintenance and support so long as she lives and in the event of the death of Minnie I. Mitchell the interest herein conveyed to her of all patents not involving the principles of said Vibrator
The issue principally argued to us is whether the share of Benjamin A. Mitchell in the Mitchell-Kyle patent is within the scope of paragraph 2 of the agreement. More specifically the question may be stated to be whether the invention on which that patent is predicated comes within the description “all other inventions . . . which he may invent.” In other words,- did Benjamin A. Mitchell, within the meaning of the agreement, “invent” the belt conveyer?
The trial judge found that the belt conveyer was the joint invention of Mitchell and Kyle. They started to work on it in October, 1922. Kyle worked with Mitchell. The belt conveyer was made in part of rubber. Kyle was a sales engineer in the rubber business. He was familiar with the manufacture of rubber products from the factory end and with the construction and installation of belt conveyers. Mitchell and Kyle filed their application as joint inventors. The judge ruled that the words of the agreement hereinbefore quoted did not include the joint invention of Mitchell and Kyle.
We think that under the circumstances disclosed the ruling was right. As a matter of the strictly accurate use of language there is force in the statement of Cranch, C.J., in Arnold v. Bishop, 1 MacArthur Pat. Cas. 36, 1 Fed. Cas. 1168, that a joint inventor “cannot with propriety be called the inventor.” Thus application for a patent must be made by the inventor, U. S. Rev. Sts. § 4888, U. S. C.
It is possible of course that the parties in making the agreement did not have in mind at all joint inventions, but this possibility is not an argument in favor of construing the agreement so as to include them. Nor do we see how the fact that Benjamin A. Mitchell was under a legal obligation to support his minor child enables us to say that he intended to include joint inventions in this agreement. No question arises of evasion or of subterfuge on the part of Mitchell. The findings show that Kyle was in truth and in fact a joint inventor with Mitchell.
What has been said is decisive of all issues which have been argued. We need not pass upon other possible questions.
Decree affirmed with costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- First Security Trust Company, trustee v. Benjamin A. Mitchell & another
- Status
- Published