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Frederick Warne & Co. v. Book Sales, Inc.

481 F. Supp. 1191 (1979)

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Frederick Warne & Co. v. Book Sales, Inc.

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
481 F. Supp. 1191 (1979)

SC

Facts

Since 1902, Frederick Warne & Company (Warne) (plaintiff) had published books trademarked the “Original Peter Rabbit Books.” Some of the books in the Peter Rabbit series were not protected by copyright and thus in the public domain. However, Warne claimed that it had trademark protection under the Lanham Act for certain illustrations in the books. Since 1977, Book Sales, Inc. (BSI) (defendant) had published copies of those Peter Rabbit books that were in the public domain, including the illustrations for which Warne claimed protection. Warne sued BSI for trademark infringement. BSI argued that because the illustrations were part of the copyrightable works in the public domain, they were not protectable under trademark law. Both parties moved for summary judgment.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Sofaer, J.)

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