Assignee, Grantee, and Licensee Defined.
"An assignee is one who has transferred to him in writing the whole interest in the original patent, or any undivided part of such whole interest in every portion of the United States. And no one, unless he has such an interest transferred to him, is an assignee.
"A grantee is one who has transferred in writing the exclusive right under the patent, to make and use, and to grant to others to make and use, the thing patented, within and throughout some[p. 93] specified part or portion of the United States. Such right must be an exclusive sectional right, excluding the patentee therefrom.
"A licensee is one who has transferred to him in writing, or orally, a less or different interest than either the interest in the whole patent, or an undivided part of such whole interest, or an exclusive sectional interest." (Potter vs. Holland, 1 Fish, 327.)
The Language of Law.
If a man were to give another an orange he would simply say, "I give you this orange"; but if the transaction be intrusted to a lawyer to draw up according to the requirements of law, says the Observer, he would most probably put it in the following language: "I hereby give, grant, and convey to you all my interest, right, title, and advantage of and in said orange, together with its rind, skin, juice, pulp, and pits, and all right and advantage therein with full power to bite, suck, cut, or otherwise eat the same or to give the same away, as fully and effectually as I, the said A. B., am now entitled to cut, bite, or otherwise eat the same, or give away the same with or without the rind, skin, juice, pulp, or pits; anything hereinbefore or hereafter or in any other deed or deeds, instruments of nature or kind whatsoever to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding."
It is always better and more satisfactory to[p. 94] have assignments, royalty contracts, agreements, etc., drawn up specially to accord with the facts, details, and covenants of each particular case; and there is no one probably better able to do this than the attorney who secured the patent. However, if in the case the parties to the transaction cannot well delay proceedings to have the papers prepared by an attorney, by adhering to the following forms in any such transactions, both the purchaser and seller may rest assured that their rights are protected.
ASSIGNMENT OF ENTIRE INTEREST IN
LETTERS PATENT
Whereas, I, Richard Doe, of Columbus, County of Franklin, State of Ohio, did obtain Letters Patent of the United States for an improvement in Typewriting Machines, which Letters Patent are numbered 000,000, and bear date January 1, 1901; and whereas I am now sole owner of said patent, and of all rights under the same; and whereas the Ohio Typewriter Company, a corporation, of Cincinnati, County of Hamilton, and State of Ohio, is desirous of acquiring an interest in the same:
Now, therefore, to all whom it may concern, be it known, that for and in consideration of the sum of five thousand dollars to me in hand paid by the aforesaid corporation, the receipt of which[p. 95] is hereby acknowledged, I, the said Richard Doe have sold, assigned, and transferred, and by these presents do sell, assign, and transfer unto the said Ohio Typewriter Company, its successors and assigns, the entire right, title and interest in and to said Letters Patent and the invention therein patented; the same to be held and enjoyed by the said corporation for its own use and behoof, and for the use and behoof of its successors and assigns, to the full end of the term for which said Letters Patent are or may be granted, as fully and entirely as the same would have been held and enjoyed by me had this assignment and sale not been made.