National Geographic Soc. v. Classified Geographic
| Citation | 27 F. Supp. 655 |
| Decision Date | 17 May 1939 |
| Docket Number | No. 4509.,4509. |
| Parties | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOC. v. CLASSIFIED GEOGRAPHIC, Inc., et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
William R. Cook and Johnson, Clapp, Ives & Knight, all of Boston, Mass., and Elisha Hanson and Eliot C. Lovett, both of Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.
Nathan Tobin, of Lynn, Mass., for defendants.
This is an action brought for injunctive and other relief against a corporate defendant and three individuals controlling said corporation.
The action is brought under the Copyright and Trademark statutes and also is based on allegations of unfair competition.
The facts are not in dispute. They are fairly and fully stated in plaintiff's brief and are abundantly supported by evidence.
1. The National Geographic Society is a scientific and educational institution, not organized for profit, which was originally incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia in 1888. Its object is to gather and diffuse geographic knowledge. Since 1889, one of its chief vehicles for diffusing geographic knowledge has been, and still is, The National Geographic Magazine, which is published monthly by plaintiff.
2. In its work of gathering and diffusing geographic knowledge, plaintiff has conducted and sponsored numerous research expeditions, the work of which is described in its Magazine. In carrying out this work and publishing The National Geographic Magazine, plaintiff has expended many millions of dollars. All of the component parts of The National Geographic Magazine are covered by copyrights under the Federal Copyright Law.
3. Over a long period of years plaintiff has compiled, adapted, arranged and published in book form material that has appeared in its Magazine. The National Geographic Magazine, and those publications, adaptations and arrangements in book form, in turn, have been copyrighted under the provisions of Section 6 of that Copyright Law, 17 U.S.C.A. § 6, and offered for sale to the public. Among such compilations of the plaintiff are, "The Book of Birds", "Our Insect Friends and Foes and Spiders", "The Book of Fishes", "The Book of Dogs", "Horses of the World", and "Cattle of the World".
4. The plaintiff publishes each month over a million copies of The National Geographic Magazine and distributes them to members of the Society and to subscribers throughout the civilized world. That magazine has become widely known as "The Geographic". By that magazine the numerous research expeditions conducted or sponsored by the plaintiff, and its many other contributions to the science of geography, the plaintiff has built up a substantial goodwill for itself and for its Magazine.
5. In addition, the plaintiff conducts a School Service Department, which provides teachers and scholars with weekly bulletins and also it is prepared to furnish information to teachers and others on matters of the geographic nature. Much of the material for this service is compiled, abridged or arranged from articles which have appeared or are about to appear in the Magazine.
6. The plaintiff has duly registered the name of its publication, The National Geographic Magazine, and the front cover of that Magazine in the United States Patent Office. In addition, the said name was also duly registered under the Trade-Mark Registration Laws of Massachusetts.
7. The defendant, Classified Geographic, Inc., is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its chief business is the adaptation, arrangement and compilation of material which has appeared in The National Geographic Magazine, the publication of that material as adapted, arranged and compiled in book or pamphlet form and the sale of such books and pamphlets to the general public. Defendant, Classified Geographic, Inc., does not reprint any of said material but obtains all of such material from copies of The National Geographic Magazine, which it has purchased in various markets and which it treats as secondhand property. Defendant, Classified Geographic, Inc., classifies the articles in these various magazines under topical subjects, tears the magazines apart, segregates the particular articles desired, then brings the articles under each one of the particular topics together for publication in book form, binds them in a substantial backing and finally offers them for sale as an original compilation of articles from The National Geographic Magazine. Likewise, it takes from the magazines which it has purchased individual articles on various topics and publishes them in a pasteboard binding and offers them for sale in such changed form.
8. On the outside cover of certain of said compilations in book form the following appears:
"Classified Geographic, Inc. "Articles Compiled and Rebound from National Geographic Magazines"
On the outside cover of the single articles rebound for distribution, the following appears:
"Articles Classified and Rebound from National Geographic Magazines ------------------------------- Classified Geographic, Inc. Lynn, Mass. Price 15c" On the outside cover of the book volumes there is a simulation of a portion of plaintiff's registered trademark. And on the outside cover of the bound single articles there is a simulation of another part of plaintiff's registered trade-mark.
In both the book form and the pamphlet form there is a preface, the first three paragraphs of which read as follows:
(Italics supplied.)
9. Defendant, Classified Geographic, Inc., has adapted, arranged, compiled, published and offered for sale copyrighted material taken from plaintiff's magazine, The National Geographic Magazine, in book form under the subjects of "Birds", "Fish", and "Domestic Animals and Insects", large portions of which copyrighted material also had been adapted, arranged, compiled, published and offered for sale by plaintiff in its volumes hereinbefore referred to. As to a large portion of the material contained in all of the volumes of articles from The National Geographic Magazine published by the corporate defendant, there is no notice to the public in those volumes that that material has been copyrighted by the plaintiff although, in fact, all of it has been so copyrighted.
10. In order to facilitate the sales of plaintiff's articles as adapted, arranged and compiled, defendant, Classified Geographic, Inc., has issued a catalog to the general public outlining the scope of the material which it offers. This catalog contains an announcement of the "Unique Service" offered by said defendant and a claim to "originality" in its work. It also contains a topical index, enumerating eighty-one subjects on which said defendant is prepared to furnish material taken from plaintiff's magazine. Following the index are forty-two pages in which the separate articles adapted, arranged and compiled from plaintiff's magazine and published by said defendant, are described, first under the general topics as printed in the index, and second, under the identical titles given to the articles in the National Geographic Magazine. More than one thousand of these articles are so listed and offered for sale, either in book or pamphlet form as adapted, arranged, compiled and published by said defendant.
11. The said catalog also lists the prices at which said defendant's publications will be sold, those prices ranging from 15 cents for certain articles published by said defendant in pamphlet form to $246 for one set of forty-four volumes compiled and published in book form.
12. The defendants' publications show lack of editorial skill and care in their preparation. They omit many of the leading articles on those subjects published in the plaintiff's magazine. The compilations of articles as published by the defendants are so seriously defective and so unrepresentative of the articles actually published by the plaintiff on the various topics covered by the defendant's publications that they tend to injure the reputation and diminish the goodwill attached not only to the plaintiff's magazine but also to the value of the plaintiff's whole field of scientific activities by generating in the minds of the purchasing public a depreciated valuation of the articles published by the plaintiff and by creating a false impression concerning the value and quality of the plaintiff's work.
13. Defendant, William Burdette Wilkins, was treasurer and director of the corporate defendant, and a stockholder, until Sept., 1938. Defendant, Hyman B. Chandler, is president and director of the corporate defendant and a stockholder therein, and defendant, George F. Gilbert, is treasurer, clerk and director of the corporate defendant and a stockholder therein....
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