Folsom v. Marsh

9 F. Cas. 342 (1841)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ps owned the copyrights on the Writings of President Washington, in twelve volumes, royal octavo, containing nearly seven thousand pages, of which the first volume contains a life of Washington, by the learned editor, Mr. Sparks. Most of the volumes consist of the letters of Washington, private and official, and his messages and other public acts, with explanatory notes and occasional illustrations by the editor. The work of Ds is in two volumes, duodecimo, containing eight hundred and sixty-six pages. It consists of a Life of Washington, written by the learned Rev. Charles W. Upham), which is formed upon a plan different from that of Mr. Sparks, and in which Washington is made mainly to tell the story of his own life, by inserting therein his letters and his messages, and other written documents, with such connecting lines in the narrative, as may illustrate and explain the times and circumstances, and occasions of writing them. There is no complaint, that Mr. Upham has taken his narrative part, substantially, from the Life by Mr. Sparks. P claims that D used the letters of Washington, and inserted, verbatim, copies thereof from the collection of Mr. Sparks. The master found, by his report, that the whole number of pages in D's work, corresponding and identical with the passages in P's work, is three hundred and fifty-three pages out of eight hundred and sixty-six. Three hundred and nineteen pages consist of letters of Washington, which have been taken from P's work, and have never been published before; namely, sixty-four pages are official letters and documents, and two hundred and fifty-five pages are private letters of Washington. The question upon this admitted state of the facts, resolves itself into the point, of whether such use constitutes piracy of the work of P.