Holmes v. Hurst
Supreme Court of the United States
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT. This was a bill in equity by the executor of the will of the late Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, praying for an injunction against the infringement of the copyright of a book originally published by plaintiff’s testator under the title of “ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.”
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APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT. This was a bill in equity by the executor of the will of the late Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, praying for an injunction against the infringement of the copyright of a book originally published by plaintiff’s testator under the title of “ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.” The case was tried upon an agreed statement of facts, the material portions of which are as follows: Dr. Holmes, the testator, was the author of “ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” which, during the years 1857 and 1858, was published by Phillips, Sampson…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Brown
This case raises the question whether the serial publication of a book in a monthly magazine, prior to any steps taken toward securing a copyright, is such a publication of the same within the meaning of the act of February 3, 1831, c. 16, 4 Stat. 436, as to vitiate a copyright of the whole book, obtained subsequently but prior to the publication of the- book as an entirety.
The right of an author, irrespective of statute, to his own productions and to a control of their publication, seems to have been recognized by the common law, but to have been so ill defined that from an early period…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Reckendorfer v. FaberSupreme Court of the United States · 1876
- Hailes v. Van WormerSupreme Court of the United States · 1874
- Wheaton and Donaldson v. Peters and GriggSupreme Court of the United States · 1834
- Pickering v. McCulloughSupreme Court of the United States · 1881
- Richards v. Chase Elevator Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1895
3Cited by85 opinions
- Nichols v. Universal Pictures CorporationCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1930
- American Tobacco Co. v. WerckmeisterSupreme Court of the United States · 1907
- Dymow v. BoltonCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1926
- American Code Co. v. BensingerCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1922
- Harold Lloyd Corporation v. WitwerCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1933
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