Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-05-03

the news llSell Will not escape COHIdHll-
nation"
At length Mr. Lehman presented ar
gument and referred to decisions to
uphold the contention that publication
of news does not relinquish the prop
erty right in it.
Unlike Material Commodities.
News is unlike any material COM
modify" said he. I'm the field of gen.
eral news, whether it is gathered and
disseminated by cooperative asso-
citation of newspapers or by an agency
conducted for pecuniary profit, it Is OBJ
vious that the paper which is permit
ted simply to appropriate the news
without payment of any kind would
have a great advantage over its COM
petitor who had paid for it or had
shared in the labor and pains of get
ting it.
I'm the case Of newspapers published
in the west the conditions would be
worse. Because electricity outruns the
apparent movement OF the sun. we can
clip news appearing in the New York
morning paper and send 1t to any pa
per in the Mississippi valley, or to the
west Of that. in ample time for pub
lication in the regular and even in the
Amy person doing this would have q
crest advantage over the Associated
Press What the Associated Press got
through the diligence and daring Of its
front. and at the additional cost Of trans
mission by cable across the Atlantic this
man would get sitting securely at a safe
desk in New York by the mere use Of
pair of scissors
May the product of the news-gathering
activities Of the Associated Press in
tended. SO far as concerns current publi-
cation in the daily papers. exclusively
for its own members, be appropriated, in
suggested Int
tional News Service and sold by it in the
course and conduct of its business as
news agency in competition with the AS
sociated Press? That is the question pre-
sented by this case, and it is answered
by counsel for the Interpational News
Service boldly in the affirmative.
Definition of News.
News. they say. is an account of
facts and events. and in facts and
right. This is conceded. But the facts
and events themselves are not news
The report of them is news. Before
the fact can be reported it must be
ascertained. Somebody must be where
he can get knowledge of it, and he
must be a person of intelligence and
experience, competent to determine
whether what has happened is of in
terest and importance enough to con-
stitute news, and he must provide for
prompt transmission or conveyance of
the information he has gotten to the
place where it will be put in course of
distribution for publication as part of
the days news.
the facts or produce the events of
which it endeavorS to give first in
formation to its members. but it does
create, it does produce, the news
And to create, to produce this news
budget requires human effort of every
kind from the hardest toll to the high
est ingenuity, attended sometimes by
the gravest perils. 1t requires. also.
the expenditure of money to second
and sustain the human effort.
Need Labor, Skill and Capital.
THE elements of labor. skill and
capital thus essential to the production
of news report are themselves ele-
ments of value and are property. en-
titled to protection as such. Why is
not that true Of the product itself? It
is throughout the civilized world the
subject of barter and SALE And because
value. and pecuniary value, the Inter-
News Service takes that of
the Associated Press and sells it to
it's own clients for dollars and cents
In hand paid.
.'They say that a mere budget of
news Is uOI literature, ana SO IS not
the subject of copyright, and even If |
it were we have not complied with the |
law. and SO are not entitled /
to the protection it affords.
Fundamental principles of justice |
announced in copyright cases may have |
application here. but the formal law I
Of copyright has no place. Has not the |
some right of property in
the daily news report it produces and
a right which court of equity will
protect? Are not the practices of the
petitioner complained of by the re-
spondent and admitted by the petit
.ioner unfair as against a competitor, and
Question Of Unfair Competition.
.eThere is here at one and the same
time a taking of property of the AS
Press and unfair competition
in business. Counsel for petitioner say
that unfair competition exists only
where one dealer sells his product as
being that of his competitor.
..In such case they say there is double
wrong, which the law interferes to
prevent, viz: The fraud upon the public.
Who do not get what they believe they
ire buying. and the injury to the fair
lealer, who has been deprived of a Gus
omer.
"What right of the International News
;ervice is denied by enjoining it from
aking our news and selling it to 9TH
RS? The source of all property right is
a by labor of some kind. The product
4 field, forest or factory is the result
f toll. The good will of merchants
business is created by years Of labor
nd of pains. II
.sThe right to values thus created may,
CONTINUED on seventh Page.5 ',