Misplaced Pages

Stevens v. Gladding

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

1854 United States Supreme Court case
Stevens v. Gladding
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided December 1, 1854
Full case nameJames Stevens v. Royal Gladding and Isaac T. Proud
Citations58 U.S. 447 (more)17 How. 447; 15 L. Ed. 155
Holding
The copyright of a work is not attached to the physical copperplate used to print the work, so purchasing the copperplate does not purchase the copyright.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Roger B. Taney
Associate Justices
John McLean · James M. Wayne
John Catron · Peter V. Daniel
Samuel Nelson · Robert C. Grier
Benjamin R. Curtis · John A. Campbell
Laws applied
Supplemental Copyright Act of 1819,
Copyright Act of 1831

Stevens v. Gladding, 58 U.S. 447 (1854), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held the copyright of a work is not attached to the physical copperplate used to print the work, so purchasing the copperplate does not purchase the copyright.

It also applied a principle from English law that courts of equity could not award penalties and concluded that copyright infringement damages categorically could not be awarded by equity, as distinguished from legal actions under common law. This meant that copyright holders would be required to file separate lawsuits for injunctions against the continued printing of works created by them (equity) and for requesting retroactive payment from infringers (law). That procedural requirement remained in place until the federal courts merged the law and equity dockets in 1938.

This case is closely related to Stephens v. Cady.

References

  1. Stevens v. Gladding, 58 U.S. (17 How.) 447 (1854).
  2. Gómez-Arostegui, H. Tomás (2013). "What History Teaches Us About US Copyright Law and Statutory Damages". The WIPO Journal. 5: 76–86. SSRN 2380396.
  3. Stephens v. Cady, 55 U.S. (14 How.) 528 (1852).

External links

Taney Court (1836–1864)
Justices
Decisions
By volume
Pet.
How.
Black
Wall.
By topic
Landmark
Statutes
U.S. Supreme Court Article I case law
Enumeration Clause of Section II
Qualifications Clauses of Sections II and III
Elections Clause of Section IV
Speech or Debate Clause of Section VI
Origination Clause of Section VII
Presentment Clause of Section VII
Taxing and Spending Clause of Section VIII
Commerce Clause of Section VIII
Dormant Commerce Clause
Others
Coinage Clause of Section VIII
Legal Tender Cases
Copyright Clause of Section VIII
Copyright Act of 1790
Patent Act of 1793
Patent infringement case law
Patentability case law
Copyright Act of 1831
Copyright Act of 1870
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
International Copyright Act of 1891
Copyright Act of 1909
Patent misuse case law
Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914
Lanham Act
Copyright Act of 1976
Other copyright cases
Other patent cases
Other trademark cases
Necessary and Proper Clause of Section VIII
Habeas corpus Suspension Clause of Section IX
No Bills of Attainder or Ex post facto Laws Clause of Section IX
Contract Clause of Section X
Legal Tender Cases
Others
Import-Export Clause of Section X
Compact Clause of Section X


Stub icon

This article related to the Supreme Court of the United States is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: