Nathan Clifford

“ True meaning of the word interested, as employed in the last clause of the fourteenth section of the Patent Act, when properly understood and applied, is, that the right of action is given to the person or persons owning the exclusive right at the time the infringement is committed. Subsequent sale and transfer of the exclusive right are no bar to an action to recover damages for an infringement committed before such sale and transfer. ”

“ Assignees and grantees, as well as the patentee, may, under some circumstances, maintain an action on the case for an infringement, in their own name, as appears by the express words of the act of Congress. An assignee is one who holds, by a valid assignment in writing, the whole interest of a patent, or any undivided part of such whole interest, throughout the United States. ”

“ Such damages may be recovered by action on the case in any Circuit Court of competent jurisdiction, to be brought in the name or names of the person or persons interested, whether as patentees, assignees, or as grantees of the exclusive right, as already defined, within and throughout a specified part of the United States. ”