Melville Fuller

“ It is said that if the word 'heirs' were not used in the grant, the patent would end with the life of the patentee, and would have no descendible or inheritable quality; but we are not persuaded that this would be so, any more than that the omission of the word from any transfer of personal property would have that effect. The exercise of the right vested is not, in its nature, dependent upon the continued existence of the person whose merit earned the reward. ”

“ It is also to be observed that under the practice of the patent office a considerable time necessarily elapses after a patent for an invention is allowed before it actually issues; that the applicants often reside at a great distance; that the cases when an inventor dies between the date of the application and the allowance and the allowance and the issue must be of frequent occurrence, and that this may happen when neither the office nor the inventor's solicitors are aware of the death. ”

“ Hence, continued the court, a patent for an invention is a grant, and must have a grantor and a grantee. It must grant the franchise or monopoly to a person named, and who is capable of taking; and in this respect a patent does not differ from a patent or deed for lands. ”

“ The rule in Shelley's Cases was that when an estate of freehold is limited to a person for life, and the same instrument contains a limitation, either mediate or immediate, to his heirs, or the heirs of his body, the word 'heirs' is a word of limitation, and the grantee takes the whole estate, either in fee tail or fee simple. ”

“ If there are adverse claims of heirs and legatees, they may be left to be determined by the courts in whose jurisdiction they arise, rather than by the patent office. It is enough if it is found that the patent is proper to be granted, and it is so granted to the personal representatives of the deceased. ”

“ We are to remember that it is to be assumed that James Boyle had made a useful invention, and taken all the necessary steps to secure the benefits to be derived therefrom, and that, in view of the policy of the government to encourage genius and promote the progress of the useful arts, by securing to the inventor a fair and reasonable remuneration, a liberal construction in favor of those who claim under him must be adopted in the solution of the principal question before us. ”

“ The inventor himself; the assignee of the inventor, when the assignment is made before the issue of the patent; and the executor or administrator of the inventor, if he dies before the patent is granted. That a patent for an invention is a grant for the exclusive privilege of making, using, and vending, and authorizing others to make, use, and vend, an invention ”

“ If the grant be construed as made directly to the heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns of Boyle, there can be no doubt as to its validity, even though, when the patent issued, it was not made to appear who they were.
The case of Eagleton Manuf'g Co. v. West, Bradley & Carey Manuf'g Co., 111 U.S. 490, 4 Sup. Ct. Rep. 593, is cited to the proposition that, where the inventor dies, a patent is invalid when not issued upon the application and oath of his personal representative ”

“ Williams, 'are quite inapplicable to personal estate; the heir, as heir, has nothing to do with the personal property of his ancestor. Such property has nothing hereditary in its nature, but simply belongs to its owner for the time being. ”