Belford v. Scribner

Belford v. Scribner
Supreme Court of the United States
Submitted March 24, 1892 Decided April 11, 1892
Full case name	Belford v. Scribner
Citations	144 U.S. 488 (more) 12 S. Ct. 734; 36 L. Ed. 514
Holding
1) A copyright is held by default with the person whose name it was taken out in, regardless of potential conflicts with state law. 2) If a work contains a mixture of original and copyright infringing material, but it is so intermingled as to be inseparable, then the copyright holder may take all profits from the work.
Court membership
Chief Justice Melville Fuller Associate Justices Stephen J. Field · John M. Harlan Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford Lucius Q. C. Lamar II · David J. Brewer Henry B. Brown
Case opinion
Majority	Blatchford, joined by a unanimous court

Belford v. Scribner, 144 U.S. 488 (1892), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held 1) A copyright is held by default with the person whose name it was taken out in, regardless of potential conflicts with state law. 2) If a work contains a mixture of original and copyright infringing material, but it is so intermingled as to be inseparable, then the copyright holder may take all profits from the work.^[1]

The work in question was Common Sense in the Household by Marion Harland. Her husband claimed that the copyright and profits derived therefrom belonged to him because the common law of New Jersey asserted that a wife held no share in property gained during a marriage.^[2]

• Text of Belford v. Scribner, 144 U.S. 488 (1892) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress

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