Hearst Corp. v. A. Walk, Inc.

It is a trade practice in the publishing business that wholesalers may receive full credit for unsold books and magazines by tearing off the covers and sending them back to the publisher. This avoids adding shipping and storage expense to the cost of printed matter which the reading public, demonstrably, is not burning to read. Having received credit for the “returned” material, the wholesaler is supposed to destroy the cover-less books and magazines or dispose of them to wastepaper dealers. The plaintiff’s complaint says the defendants are selling at bargain rates (e.g., four for one dollar)…