Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co. Case Brief Summary | Law Case Explained

Get more case briefs explained with Quimbee. Quimbee has over 16,300 case briefs (and counting) keyed to 223 casebooks ► https://www.quimbee.com/case-briefs-overview Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co. | 188 U.S. 239 (1903) Benjamin Wallace owned a traveling circus called “The Great Wallace Show.” He hired George Bleistein of the Courier Lithographing Company to create posters to advertise his circus. The fate of the images from those posters became the basis of the copyright lawsuit Bleistein versus Donaldson Lithographing Company. Bleistein created three chromolithographs featuring scenes from the circus, including a ballet, a group performing acrobatics on bicycles, and a group of actors posing as statues. Under their contract, Bleistein and Courier reserved the right of copyright. If Wallace ceased to use the designs, then Bleistein could sell the design or the pictures they embodied to anyone. Bleistein and his company registered copyright and supplied multiple copies of each of these posters to Wallace. After Wallace ran out of posters, he hired another company, Donaldson Lithographing Company, to run black-and-white copies of the three designs. Bleistein sued Donaldson for copyright infringement. Donaldson argued that because Bleistein’s images were advertisements, they couldn’t be copyrighted. The trial court found that the images were neither pictorial illustrations nor works connected with the fine arts. It held that neither the Constitution nor Congressional legislation ever intended to protect such tawdry pictures as these by the privilege of copyright and awarded Donaldson a directed verdict. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed, holding that if a print has no use other than that of a mere advertisement, and no value aside from that function, it’s not promotive of the useful arts under the meaning of the Copyright Clause, and therefore cannot be copyrighted. Bleistein appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Want more details on this case? Get the rule of law, issues, holding and reasonings, and more case facts here: https://www.quimbee.com/cases/bleistein-v-donaldson-lithographing-co The Quimbee App features over 16,300 case briefs keyed to 223 casebooks. Try it free for 7 days! ► https://www.quimbee.com/case-briefs-overview Have Questions about this Case? Submit your questions and get answers from a real attorney here: https://www.quimbee.com/cases/bleistein-v-donaldson-lithographing-co Did we just become best friends? Stay connected to Quimbee here: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel ► https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=QuimbeeDotCom Quimbee Case Brief App ► https://www.quimbee.com/case-briefs-overview Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/quimbeedotcom/ Twitter ► https://twitter.com/quimbeedotcom #casebriefs #lawcases #casesummaries