Zachary v. Western Publishing Co.

Opinion

TAYLOR, P. J.

This is an appeal by Rex Zachaiy (Zachary), 1 the inventor, from an order granting Western Publishing Company’s motion for a summary judgment and dismissing Zachary’s action for general and punitive damages and injunctive relief for infringement of his common law copyright in the design and drawings for a kite. Zachary’s kite, in the nick of time, 2 has brought before this court a question of law never before faced by a California court of record: whether the federal government’s grant to Zachaiy of a utility 3 patent constituted a “publication” that deprived Zachary of…