The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-02-14

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many instances, In purpose, In the nature OF the
emotions sought to he produced, that the 'skib.
almost den1ca He nsancss In has adav
various scenes, acted IN the same way, having the
same Incidents as me same scenery. IN many re-
! srects the same except in the change OF name In
the actor. All tina. human ingenuity could do TO
! scenes Ia those respects has been done. All
that human ingenuity could do TO take possession
ua, in the case OF the "Shaughraun." and
turn 1t over to the use OF the "skibbeeah,n has
been done In these two cases. The af1davit Of
have me aidavit to the same eject OF Mr..
able to say. We have also the sfidayit of Mr..
| Reeve. whose connection with the case Is u very
found this strange and mysterious similarity oe
] tween the "skiboeeah" and the "Snaughraunn he
weo,e 20 tae letter warning MN that
term piracy, and that he would hold him ac-
countaoe, and demanding that he desist from
that warning. the defendant has gone on repre-
sentng me play anq, as 10 seen BY the afidavit
read, Is t0-day-ls now actually endeavOring to
sell the right to act the play OF the 'Sklbbeeah"
which we claim to be the same as ours, and en-
others for the performance OF that play, to the
manifest, material and lncalcuable damage to the
plaintin OF his rights ana thereby infringing on
AFFIDAVIT OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS-.
tween the plays is nowhere denied in the an.
davit OF the defendant; nor does the defendant
as 9os me
ment In his afidavit there Is a slippery language
In that affidavit; but ood, manly and plain de.
to the ahidavit Of George L. stout; He says that
ne went TO work to adapt play for the Theatre
10th OF October, 1874 the play OF the Shauglraun"
was under rehearsal: Mr.. OGorman proceeded
sfidavlt speaks Of the verbal description only
/ which he had OF the play OF the "Shaughraunh
told how iai that veroa description are we mt.
now lar the chit-chat OF the green room escaped
MS ana anu Il
/ ''Shaughraun," or whether It was vague ana In
definite: ne ala not undertake to say But he "a.
Skinbeeah" ne had before. him verbal descrlp-
ton OF the "Shaugnraun," and goes on and I'm
| ishes. And what happens then He reads his
play to the defendant. and what then happens
Mr. HART a. once says But, on, is not sat IKE
ment Z" The similarity was so great and lden tical
that he was struck with ~ and Mr.. Hart Instantly
play, but 1t Is too like the Shaugnraun" not to be
an management" Mr.. Stout says, ..No, 1t is not"
from The aGldavis OF Mr.. Hurt and comments.]
Now here Mr. Hart goes on to say. II drew all
the play play Of "PyKe chsnSins the lexs
and all the names some Of the language ana some
OF the situations The position o. Mr. Stout. tnen,
but that he dad commit THEFT on the author OF
"Pyke 0,Calaghan." Now, then, let US understand
''Pyke O'Callaghan," VINO ought to know his own
property when he sees It. He goes to the play of
clearly the theft OF four scenes OF my play but
they nave been ingeniously concealed. Now peo-
usually proclaim it on the house tops. When q
criminal breaks into house and steals valuable
eaa as s s' sSsa to sn %s H. sw
to avoid detection. / say this merely ss an
illustration: In the same way when one is
WORK, he endeavors to avoid detection bY chang
t,r~f thu fopo hin "A Aniv
thing which VIII, SO far as may oe, render the
article as inherent IN appearance from the article
identity might be the same. Now, apart from
these four scenes, admitted to be taken from "Pyke
n the xSa S Hsa nc
laghan,' and which are taken, II may use the
phrase, body and soul from the .Shaugnraun.''
The scenes are not only similar, but Identical
identical IN every conceivable respect but In the
use Of the names OF the characters. Mr.. Stout
could not have got eight scenes nom "PyEe
to get from. Then where did he get these eight
miracle tbat these two plays should turn out at
different tmes-the ''Shaughraun," remember.
Your Honor Gs some months SefcTe the
suppose that some electric nash OF cOnmunica-
tiOn must have been transmitted from one author
to the other, some occult Information been inter-
the Court. reading some papers, inquired as to a
point In the discussion, which Mr.. OGorman
having explained, proceeded
Your Honor, was proceeding to say that the
presented, naturally rejects the hypothesis Of
miracles or Violations OF the known laws Of
ana a. asss m q
are wsrranIed In arriving at the Concu-
'shaughraun" and the eight corresponding and
that Mr.. Stout got information, IN quite common
place way, by long talks with some Of the parties
who witnessed the rehearsal which was known
to be talked about. and which, in TACT was q mat
ter OF complaint on the part OF the plaintiff. He
ne .ns very s hs matter OF complain to
ton aside, however. go to the last evidence In
thus case Of IDENTITY between the Two plays. We
where he could have got the Information, with all
the other aftdavlts showing the identity OF the
the admission of the defendant himself IN that
printed statement which he got to be printed
Broadcast over the land 10 the eject tast rSe
"sktbDeeahn Is nothing more than clever con-
densation Of the ..Shs%gnraun," with some OF the
cepted by him as correct, cut Dy MN from the
Columns OF the Spirit or the Times and used by him
TO come and witness his play OF the "Skibbeeah,"
which is nothing more nor less than clever
claim, or other than they claim. [Mr. O'Gorman
then read from the aridavit, presenting q
the two plays Now, Your Honor G Snows t ns1
play Is not mere matter OF writing drama or
2 narrative; They represent two altogether
In action in the Drama. 1t Is not the
words spoken that alone produce the effect;
there are accessories action, bypay. which Is
cal ed stage business; movement, scenes instan-
taneously changed, which Is meant to hold the
mirror exactly up 10 nature-all that forms the
play and all that ID the property OF the author OF
the play; and here we show that all that, to the
whole minute business, scenery and all are trans
ferred from one theatre to the other and that the
whole OF the 'Bkbbeeah" was and Is an offshOot Of
our play. Now, Your Honor the fact being incon.
same play as ours, intended to be the same pro.
duction, having the same series and sequence OF
events, in all conceivable respects the same by
possible, producing them, that being think, IN.
c0ntrovertibly settled we proceed to the other
questions IN the case.
THE LAW OF COPYRIGHT.
The question, then, Is, Did the complainant en-
title himself to the protection OF the OF COPY
right by fling his printed title OF the plavS
The COurt-rhat may rest Tor the present Till
you hear something on the question from the other
SIDE.
Mr.. O'Gorman-I accept with pleasure Your