The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1890-12-09


Robert William Wilikoki (The
History of Hon. Robert William
Wilcox and that the same has been
duly copyrighted and published in
this country that he began to offer
the work for sale about two months
ago at two dollars a copy f; that
about a month thereafter the de-
PENDANTS published and placed on
the market a pamphlet which the
plaintiff claims to be an infringe
ment of his COPYRIGHT and to have
caused him great damage IN dimln-
ishing the sale of his work. The
title of the defendants pamphlet IS.
Duke Hao Hawaii a me ma Moo
lelo Pakui," Iron Duke of Hawai-
and appended stories).
The plaintiff sold some three hun
bred copies of his pamphlet up to
the time the defendants work ap-
peared. which was sold for seventy
i've cents copy, after which time,
In consequence of the competition
thereby created, he was compelled to
put down the price of his book to
one dollar copy, and even at that
price has been able only to dispose
of about fifty copies.
The plaintiff pointed out thirteen
or fourteen passages in the de
PENDANTS book which he claimed
were borrowed from his work and
illegally used in the preparation of
theirs. At the close of the plaintiffs
evidence, the defendants counsel
moved that the bill be dismissed on
the ground that prima facie case
had not been made out. He also
made the point that the copyright
notice in plaintiffs book was not
according to law and did not protect
him.
Several of the alleged piracies pur-
port to be translations of public
documents, such as His Majesty's
letter to the Minister of Finance and
the Marshals proclamation to gov
eminent employees to report for duty
during the instruction of July Both,
1889. 1t is admitted that these docu-
ments were published in the news
papers of Honolulu Immediately
after the instruction; the plaintiff
therefore cannot claim the exclusive
right to the use of them in their orr
ginal form, though he might to his
own translations of them; COM
parison of the translations, however,
In the two works shows conclusively
that those in the defendants books
are not transcripts of those published
by the plaintiff, but are original
translations. A third document
claimed by the plaintiff to have been
copied from his work is letter
written by r. W. Wilcox to the King
on the morning of the Both of July,
1889, but as the plaintiffs book shows
that the contents of this letter were
given in evidence in the trial of
Loomens for treason, by r. w. vii
cox, who was a witness in that case,
it does not appear how it became the
exclusive property of the plaintiff
after having been thus given, in
certain sense, to the public.
Of the remainder of the alleged
piracies, the greater number are mere
b1ief statements of well known dates,
facts aud proper names which have
a necessary similarity to the state
ment of the same matters in the
plaintiffs book simply because they
refer to the same matters; they are
all things of public notoriety in which
an exclusive right cannot be claimed
without showing of some circum-
stances in collecting and arranging
them, which might be the basis of
title, but no such circumstances are
shown. There Is, however, passage
in defendants book which is claimed
by the plaintiff to be a piracy which
tends perhaps more to support the
complaint than any of the other pas
sages which have been pointed out.
This extract from the Duke Hao, the
defendants book, is as follows:
90 ma Kuhina o ka Moi, ia mala-
ma ae lakou ka halawai Aha Ku
nina maloko 0 ka Hale Hookolokolo
Hoomalu o Honolulu nei me ma Elele
Kanikela ma Aupuni e. Ia hooholo
Ia ma la halawai ana, o Ike Kuhina
Waiwai S. NJ. Damon ka mea mana
9 lave aku ! ka olelo ksuoha o la
halawai, moi aku ia Wilikoki ma
ka inoa o Ike Aupuni Hawaii no ka
malama ana ka maluhia-e haawi
pic mai ola me kona mau koai ke
Aupuni mamua o ka Iawelawe ia ana
o kekahi hama"
The passage in plaintiffs book of
which the foregoing contract is
claimed to be a piracy is as follows:
"Ua halawai tho la ka Aha Kuhina
O he Aupuni, ma Kuhina Noho ma
Alma E,na Kanikela a me Ike Kapena
o ka moku kaua Adamu,a ia hooholo
tho la lakou hoouna aku la S. M.
Damon hele moi aku la Wilikok
e haawi pic mai iaia a me kona poe"
The translations of these two ex
tracts are as follows:
From the Duke Hao Hawaii.
The Ministers of the King held
a Cabinet meeting in the Police