American Tobacco Co. v. Werckmeister

Citations

• 207 U.S. 284
• 28 S. Ct. 72
• 52 L. Ed. 208
• 1907 U.S. LEXIS 1224

Syllabus

<p>In construing a statute, while the court must gain the legislative intent primarily from the language used, it must remember the objects and purposes of the statúte and the conditions of its enactment so as to effectuate rather than destroy the spirit of that intent.</p> <p>The purpose of the copyright statute is not $o much to protect'the physical thing created as to protect the right of publication and reproduction, and the statute should be construed in view of the character of the property intended to be protected.</p> <p>In the case of a painting, map, drawing, etc., the copyright notice required by § 4662 Rev. Stat. need not be inscribed upon the original article itself; the statute is complied with if the notice is inscribed upon the published copies thereof which it is desired to protect.</p> <p>In the United States, property in copyright is the creation of Federal statute passed in the exercise of the power vested in Congress by Article I, § 8, of the Federal Constitution, to promote the progress of science and-the useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries, and the statute should be given fair and reasonable construction to effect such purpose.</p> <p>The Federal copyright statute recognizes the separate ownership of the right of copying from that which inheres in the physical control of the thing itself and gives to the assigns of the original owner of the right to copyright the right to take out copyright independently of the ownership of the article itself.</p> <p>The property of an author or painter in his intellectual creation is absolute until he voluntarily parts therewith. While the public exhibition of a painting or statue where all can see and copy it. might amount to a publication, where the exhibition is made, subject to reservation of copyright and to restrictions rigidly enforced against copying, it does not amount to a publication.</p> <p>In a suit br