|
ISSUES
Cause Of Action PLAINTIFF: Bobbs- Merrill printed a book titled "The Castaways". They didn't want it sold at retail at less than $1 for each copy, saying in their copyright statement, "The price of this book at retail is $1 net. No dealer is licensed to sell it at a less price, and a sale at a less price will be treated as an infringement of the copyright."DEFENDANTS : Macy & Company, owned by Isidor Straus and Nathan Straus, was selling the book for 89 cents a copy. The Supreme Court stated, "copyright property under the Federal law is wholly statutory". "It is not denied that one who has sold a copyrighted article, without restriction, has parted with all right to control the sale of it. The purchaser of a book, once sold by authority of the owner of the copyright, may sell it again, although he could not publish a new edition of it. " "In our view the copyright statutes, while protecting the owner of the copyright in his right to multiply and sell his production, do not create the right to impose, by notice, such as is disclosed in this case, a limitation at which the book shall be sold at retail by future purchasers, with whom there is no privity of contract. " "To add to the right of exclusive sale the authority to control all future retail sales, by a notice that such sales must be made at a fixed sum, would give a right not included in the terms of the statute, and, in our view, extend its operation, by construction, beyond its meaning, when interpreted with a view to ascertaining the legislative intent in its enactment." BOBBS-MERRILL CO. v. STRAUS, 210 U.S. 339 (1908) |