Copyright: Its History and Its LawBowker, R. R. (Richard Rogers)
History
Copyright: Its History and Its Law
Bowker, R. R. (Richard Rogers)
Copyright -- History; Copyright -- United States -- History
While the title of a dramatic or musical composition, like that of a
book, cannot be copyrighted as such, the courts seem disposed to
emphasize the title as an integral part of a play, perhaps more than in
the case of a book because the advertising of another play of like name,
especially in the case of one of long run and wide popularity, may
mislead the public and involve unfair competition. This protection was
upheld as a matter of common law in Aronson _v._ Fleckenstein in 1886,
by Judge Blodgett in the U. S. Circuit Court in Illinois, when the use
of the title "Erminie" was held to be unlawful, though the operetta
originally designated by the title had not been copyrighted. But in
Glaser _v._ St. Elmo Co. in 1909, the U. S. Circuit Court denied relief
where the title of Miss Evans's novel, then out of copyright, was used
for a second and unauthorized dramatization. There may be danger to
copyright or playright when a work is published or performed under a
title differing from that under which it is copyrighted; but the change
of a descriptive sub-title has been held to be immaterial. In the case
of Daly's play "Under the gaslight," which in the copyright entry bore
the sub-title "A romantic panorama of the streets and homes of New
York," but in printed form the changed sub-title "A totally original
picturesque drama of life and love in these times," the defendants in
Daly _v._ Webster alleged that this change made the copyright invalid,
which contention was negatived by the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
which held in 1892 that the sub-title was merely descriptive and not an
essential part of the title--a principle later applied by Judge Lacombe
in Patterson _v._ Ogilvie, in 1902.
{Sidenote: Names of characters}
In the case of Frohman _v._ Weber in 1903, in the N. Y. Supreme Court,
where the proprietor of the play entitled "Sherlock Holmes" sought to
enjoin another play "The sign of the four," in which the name Sherlock
Holmes designated the leading character, Judge Clarke held that this did
not constitute unfair competition and denied a preliminary injunction.
{Sidenote: Persons liable for infringement}
{Sidenote: Principal in control}
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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