[D9241AAF], Letter from Sherburne Blake Eaton to Thomas Alva Edison, February 9th, 1892
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/D9241AAF
Transcription
Letterhead of Eaton & Lewis Law Offices February 9, 1892, Thomas A. Edison, Esq., Dear Sir: Referring to your favor of the 30th inst., enclosing Power of Attorney for Cape Colony and seven assignments for inventions for British India, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and New Zealand, respectively, forwarded by Messrs. Seligman & Seligman to you for execution, in behalf of, the Edison United Phonograph Company, I beg to state as follows: (1) I have examined the documents above named, and in my opinion it would be objectionable to deliver them to the E.U.P. Co. in their present form, for reasons which will appear below. (2) The seven assignments are executed by you in blank. There is no recital or reference as to what inventions is assigned thereby, in fact the documents do not even state that the inventions purporting to be assigned thereby relate to phonographs. (3) If there assignments were delivered in their present form, they could be filled un for any invention of yours, irrespective of the subject matter thereof. (4) None of these seven assignments contains any reservation in your favor for dolls, toys, toy figures and clocks. (5) The power of Attorney for Cape Colony is also in blank, and should be filled up with at least the subject of the invention [to be advered?] thereby. (6) In view of the above, I advise that you authorize me to hold these assignments and the Power of Attorney until others have been prepared in proper form to take their place. Are those your instructions? In your said letter of the 30th. Ult. You enclosed two assignments, dated December 14, 1891, the same being (a) G.G.M. Hardingham to Thomas A. Edison, and (b) G.E. Gouraud to Thomas A. Edison, of the rights for dolls &c. under certain Britain patents. These are the two assignments which I advised you to have made last summer, when you learned that Hardingham and Gouraud has assigned certain patents to the Edison United Phonograph Company. These assignments of the rights to dolls &c. to yourself were prepared by me last summer and sent over to England. They therefore form part of your files, and I now beg to return them to you to be added thereto. Awaiting your further instructions in regard to the first portion of this letter, I remain. Very truly yours, [Signed] S.B. Eaton