Source: http://www.leagle.com/decision/1952572344US228_1546/WOOLWORTH%20CO.%20v.%20CONTEMPORARY%20ARTS
Timestamp: 2017-03-29 20:56:20
Document Index: 154509998

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 101']

WOOLWORTH CO. v. CONTEMPORARY ARTS | 344 U.S. 228 (1952) | Leagle.com
Argued November 17, 1952.
Kenneth W. Greenawalt argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the brief were Martin A. Schenck and John H. Barber.
Respondent brought this action under the Copyright Act to recover for infringement of copyright on a work of art entitled "Cocker Spaniel in Show Position." The District Court found the copyright, of which respondent was assignee, valid and infringed and awarded statutory damages of $5,000, with a $2,000 attorney's fee. The Court of Appeals affirmed.1 We granted certiorari,2 limiting the issues to the measure of the recovery, as to which conflict appears among lower courts.3
By the Act an infringer becomes liable—
"To pay to the copyright proprietor such damages as the copyright proprietor may have suffered due to the infringement, as well as all the profits which the infringer shall have made from such infringement, and in proving profits the plaintiff shall be required to prove sales only, and the defendant shall be required to prove every element of cost which he claims, or in lieu of actual damages and profits, such damages as to the court shall appear to be just, and in assessing such damages the court may, in its discretion, allow the amounts as hereinafter stated . . . and such damages shall in no other case exceed the sum of $5,000 nor be less than the sum of $250, and shall not be regarded as a penalty. . . ." 17 U. S. C. § 101 (b).
The earthenware dogs found to infringe respondent's copyright were bought by F. W. Woolworth Company in good faith at a total cost of $914.40. Woolworth's total profit from the sale of the dogs was $899.16. The Court now holds that Woolworth must pay the dogs' copyright owner $5,000. This award is said to be allowed by § 101 (b) of the Copyright Act, 17 U. S. C. § 101. We do not think that section authorizes any such manifestly unjust exaction. This Court pointed out in Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp., 309 U.S. 390, 400-401, that § 101, like an analogous patent law section, was not intended to award a copyright owner both damages and profits, but only "one or the other, whichever was the greater." Under this rule, profits only should be awarded to respondent in this case.
Reliance for awarding $5,000 against Woolworth is naturally placed on that provision of § 101 (b) which provides for damages not in excess of $5,000 "in lieu of actual damages and profits." But this Court has said that the purpose of this section was to recompense for injury done "where the rules of law render difficult or impossible proof of damages or discovery of profits." Douglas v. Cunningham, 294 U.S. 207, 209. Here proof of profits was neither difficult nor impossible. And in the carefully considered case of Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp., supra, at 399, Mr. Chief Justice Hughes speaking for the Court declared, ". . . the `in lieu' clause is not applicable here, as the profits have been proved . . . ." See also to the same effect Davilla v. Brunswick-Balke Collender Co., 94 F.2d 567; Sammons v. Colonial Press, 126 F.2d 341. We would adhere to this view and limit this recovery to profits made by Woolworth. This Court should heed the admonition given in the Sheldon case to remember that the object of § 101 (b) is not to inflict punishment but to award an injured copyright owner that which in fairness is his "and nothing beyond this." Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp., supra, at 399.
FootNotes 1. 193 F.2d 162.
2. 343 U.S. 963.
3. F. W. Woolworth Co. v. Contemporary Arts. 193 F.2d 162, 167-169; Sammons v. Colonial Press, 126 F.2d 341, 350; Davilla v. Brunswick-Balke Collender Co., 94 F.2d 567; Malsed v. Marshall Field & Co., 96 F.Supp. 372, 376-377.