Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 10.djvu/41

TERRITORIAL RIGHTS IN PATENTED ARTICLES, 1 5 land retained by the grantor, a purchaser of the land sold taking with notice of the covenant may be restrained from using the land in violation of the covenant, and that a suit for such an injunction may be maintained, not only by the original grantor, but also under some circumstances by one who has purchased the land for the benefit of which the covenant was made.^ So also where land is divided into parcels, and all the parcels are sold with similar restrictions in pursuance of a general plan for the improvement of the whole property, any purchaser that takes with notice of the restrictions will be restrained from using the land in a manner inconsistent with the contract, and a suit for an injunction may be brought against any purchaser of any of the other parcels, whether he be in law an assignee of the contract or not. 2 And again, if two persons agree together with respect to the restrictions upon the use of adjoining pieces of land, the assignee of either one with notice of the covenant will be pre- vented at the suit of the assigns of the other from using the land in violation of the agreement.^ So far as this principle is concerned, there would seem to be no distinction between real and personal estate, and the cases relat- ing to real estate are, therefore, to be considered in examining the question of the effect of notice of a restrictive covenant relat- ing to the use of patented articles. There are analogies in these cases to the cases of the owners of territorial rights in a patent. The analogies are not perfect, but they are suggestive, and there is reason for the application of the same principles to both. A patentee has the exclusive right to make, use, and vend the patented article throughout the whole country. The law gives him authority to assign this exclusive right to different persons for different parts of the United States. Each purchaser then acquires an exclusive right for the territory assigned. In making this division of his territory the patentee, in order to protect the rights which he retains, or those which he may assign to others, exacts of each assignee a covenant that the goods which he may manufacture, use, or sell under the patent shall not be sold or used outside of his own territory. The con- 1 Renals v. Cowlishaw, L. R. 9 Ch. D. 125. "Restrictions upon the Use of Land," 6 Harv. Law Rev. 280-289, and cases cited. 2 Spicer v. Martin, 14 App. Cas. 12; Dana v. Wentworth, 11 1 Mass. 291; De Gray V. Monmouth Beach C. H. Co., 50 N. J. Eq. 329, 336; 6 Harv. Law Rev. 280 291. « Trustees of Columbia College v. Thatcher, 87 N. Y. 311.