US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS SERVICE V. ASSOCIATED PRESS, 248 U. S. 215 (1918)

Subscribe to Cases that cite 248 U. S. 215



-->

U.S. Supreme Court

International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215 (1918)

International News Service v. Associated Press

No. 221

Argued May 2, 3, 1918

Decided December 23, 1918

248 U.S. 215

Syllabus

An incorporated association of proprietors and representatives of many newspapers, engaged in gathering news and distributing it to its members for publication, is a proper party to represent them in a suit to protect their interests in news so collected against the illegal acts of a rival organization. Equity Rule 38. P. 248 U. S. 233.

The right to object to the nonjoinder of parties may be treated as chanrobles.com-red

Page 248 U. S. 216

waived if not made specifically in the courts below. Equity Rules 43, 44. P. 248 U. S. 233.

A news article in a newspaper may be copyrighted under the Act of March 4, 1909, but news, as such, is not copyrightable. P. 248 U. S. 234

As against the public, any special interest of the producer of uncopyrighted news matter is lost upon the first publication. Id.

But one who gathers news at pains and expense, for the purpose of lucrative publication, may be said to have a quasi-property in the results of his enterprise as against a rival in the same business, and the appropriation of those results at the expense and to the damage of the one and for the profit of the other is unfair competition against which equity will afford relief. P. 248 U. S. 236.

An incorporated association of newspaper publishers gathered news at pains and expense, and, without applying for copyright, telegraphed it daily to its members throughout the country for their exclusive use in publication, they paying assessments therefor; a rival corporation, serving other newspapers for pecuniary returns, made a practice of obtaining this news through early publications in newspapers and on bulletins of the first company's members, and of sending it by telegraph, either as so taken or in rewritten form, to its own customers, thus enabling them to compete with the newspapers of the first company in the prompt publication of news obtained for the benefit of the latter by their exclusive agency and at their expense. Held that the first company and its members, as against the second company, had an equitable quasi-property in the news, even after the early publications; that the use made of it by the second company not as a mere basis for independent investigation, but by substantial appropriation for its own gain and at the expense and to the damage of their enterprise, amounted to unfair competition which should be enjoined irrespective of the false pretense involved in rewriting articles and in distributing the news without mentioning the source, for this, while accentuating the wrong, was not of its essence. Pp. 248 U. S. 237 et seq., 248 U. S. 242.

Upon the pleadings and proofs in this case, held that complainant was not debarred from relief upon the ground of unclean hands by the fact that, following a practice engaged in by the defendant also and by news agencies generally, it had used the defendant's news items, when published, as "tips" for investigations, the results of which it sold. P. 248 U. S. 242.

245 F.2d 4 affirmed.

The case is stated in the opinion. chanrobles.com-red

Page 248 U. S. 229



























chanrobles.com



ChanRobles Legal Resources:

ChanRobles On-Line Bar Review

ChanRobles Internet Bar Review : www.chanroblesbar.com

ChanRobles MCLE On-line

ChanRobles Lawnet Inc. - ChanRobles MCLE On-line : www.chanroblesmcleonline.com