Belford v. Scribner

Belford v. Scribner, 144 U.S. 488 (1892), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held 1) A copyright is held by default with the person whose name it was taken out in, regardless of potential conflicts with state law. 2) If a work contains a mixture of original and copyright infringing material, but it is so intermingled as to be inseparable, then the copyright holder may take all profits from the work.[1]

Belford v. Scribner
Submitted March 24, 1892
Decided April 11, 1892
Full case nameBelford v. Scribner
Citations144 U.S. 488 (more)
12 S. Ct. 734; 36 L. Ed. 514
Holding
1) A copyright is held by default with the person whose name it was taken out in, regardless of potential conflicts with state law. 2) If a work contains a mixture of original and copyright infringing material, but it is so intermingled as to be inseparable, then the copyright holder may take all profits from the work.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Melville Fuller
Associate Justices
Stephen J. Field · John M. Harlan
Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford
Lucius Q. C. Lamar II · David J. Brewer
Henry B. Brown
Case opinion
MajorityBlatchford, joined by a unanimous court

The work in question was Common Sense in the Household by Marion Harland. Her husband claimed that the copyright and profits derived therefrom belonged to him because the common law of New Jersey asserted that a wife held no share in property gained during a marriage.[2]

References

  1. Belford v. Scribner, 144 U.S. 488 (1892)
  2. Hamlin, Arthur Sears (1904). Copyright Cases. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 118–122.
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