G. Ricordi & Co. v. Haendler

L. HAND, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff appeals from an order denying its motion to enjoin the defendant from selling a book, published by him, which contains the libretto and vocal and piano scores of Verdi’s opera, “Falstaff.” The basis of the action is that the sale of the defendant’s book, which is substantially an exact copy of the plaintiff’s, save for the interpolation in the libretto of passages from Shakespeare’s play, is “unfair competition” under the law of the State of New York. Jurisdiction therefore rests and must rest upon diverse citizenship, for the plaintiff does not invoke the…