Rush v. Oursler

(after stating the facts as above).

An ordinary observer of the three plays here involved would undoubtedly form the impression that they were of the same type and had utilized the same material — that is, a shooting in a theater and the solution of the crime. But no impartial person would think that anything of importance in “The Spider” had been taken from either of the other two plays. The differences in the plays are more striking than their similarities, which relate only to the actual occurrence of the murder, and not to the solution of the mystery.

The inquiry always is: What, if…