213 F. 532 | D.N.J. | 1914
The bill in this case is brought by M. Witmark & Sons, an incorporated company, against the Standard Music Jloll Company, also incorporated, and charges infringement by the defendant of two ^copyrights owned by the complainant, and prays for an accounting, etc. It appears, among other things, from a stipulation filed in the case by the counsel for the parties that the complainant is engaged in the business of publishing and dealing in musi
“Orange, N. J., September 20, 1912.
“M. Witmark & Sons, N. Y. City—Gentlemen: Would request that, you kindly grant us your permission to use the complete music of ‘Till the Sands of the Desert Grow Cold,’ at the two cent rate. * * *
“Thanking you in advance we remain,
“Yours very truly,
Standard Music Roll Co.
“Per M. P.”
“New York, Sept. 23, 1912.
“Standard Music Roll Co., Orange, N. J.—Gentlemen: As requested in your favor of the 20th inst. we hereby grant you permission- to mechanically reproduce ‘Till the Sands of the Desert Grow Cold’ according to the terms and conditions of the copyright law. * * *
“Very truly yours,-
M. Witmark & Sons.”
“Sec. 3. That the copyright provided by this act shall protect all the copyrightable component parts of the work copyrighted, and all matters therein in which copyright is already subsisting, but without extending the duration or scope of such copyright. The copyright upon composite works or periodicals shall give to the proprietor thereof all the rights with respect thereto which he would have if each part were individually copyrighted under this act”
The words were copyrightable, the music was copyrightable, and the composite work, namely, the musical composition, was copyrighted; and, under the above provision, the complainant, under his copyright for the musical composition, was as clearly entitled to prevent the unauthorized use of the words entering into and constituting a component part of the musical composition as if the words had been separately copyrighted. While the defendant might under the provisions of the act have mechanically reproduced the words as well as the music of the musical composition, it had no right, without the leave or license of the complainant to supply, not by mechanical means, but simply by printing or writing, the words of that composition.
The bill must, therefore, be dismissed in so far as it complains of infringement of “In the Garden óf My Heart” and sustained in so far as it charges infringement of “Till the Sands of the Desert Grow Cold.” Let a decree in accordance with this opinion be prepared and. submitted.