Pinci v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.

• Decision Date: 26 February 1951
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 29-250.
• Citation: 95 F. Supp. 884
• Parties: PINCI v. TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX FILM CORP.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

95 F. Supp. 884

PINCI v. TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX FILM CORP.

Civ. No. 29-250.

United States District Court S. D. New York.

February 26, 1951.

Emerson L. Simon, New York City (Julian I. Bergoffen, New York City, of counsel), for plaintiff.

Dwight, Royall, Harris, Koegel & Caskey, New York City (Whitman Knapp, Vincent L. Broderick, New York City, of counsel), for defendant.

SAMUEL H. KAUFMAN, District Judge.

This is an action for damages for infringement of a copyrighted play and for an accounting by defendant. Jurisdiction is based on 17 U.S.C.A. § 34 and 28 U.S. C.A. § 1338.

In 1929, a copyright was issued to plaintiff covering a play entitled "Woodrow Wilson". This play was never published or produced. Between 1942 and 1944 defendant made a motion picture called "Wilson", and this picture was publicly distributed some time after 1944. Both the play and the motion picture attempt to portray events in the life and times of the late President Woodrow Wilson. Insofar as these two works deal with President Wilson's public policies, both focus attention on the events leading up to the participation of the United States in World War I, the postwar struggle over the peace treaty, the creation of the League of Nations, and the attitude of the United States toward adherence to the League. While the motion picture development of Wilson's war and peace policies makes use of many of the historical episodes that plaintiff used in his play, no claim is made that the general similarity of the development of this theme infringes plaintiff's copyright. Instead, plaintiff contends that defendant copied or made use of the manner in which plaintiff developed certain scenes and that the situations and language in these scenes are protected by the copyright.

Although the play was never produced or published, plaintiff urges that defendant's employees could have copied from it because it was twice submitted to defendant before the motion picture was produced. The facts are that in 1937 the play was first submitted by plaintiff's agents to Earl Carroll, who was then in defendant's employ. The play was returned almost immediately, without the wrapper on it having been opened. Further, there is no showing that Carroll was in any way connected with the production of the film. On April 25, 1940 the play was again submitted to defendant's New York Story Department, which returned it in four days after making a seven page synopsis. The synopsis was then forwarded to defendant's California offices, where it was filed along with thousands upon thousands of other synopses in defendant's possession. Again, there is no proof that anyone connected with producing the motion picture saw either the play or the synopsis; futhermore, other than possibility of access to the file in which the synopsis was deposited, no fact has been adduced from which it could be inferred that anyone connected with the production of the motion picture did in fact see or use any part of plaintiff's play. This conclusion is not affected by the fact that in 1943, while the script of the picture was being written, plaintiff wrote to the defendant and also to the producer, calling his play to their attention.

It appears from the evidence that some time in August, 1942, Darryl Zanuck, vice-president of defendant in charge of production, decided to make a motion picture dealing with the life of Woodrow Wilson. Between that time and November, 1943, when the actual filming was begun, defendant made extensive preparations to assure that the picture would be accurate as well as entertaining. Lamar Trotti, one of the studio's leading script writers, was assigned to prepare the scenario. He immediately commenced research on the life of the late President, reading books about him as well as New York and Washington newspapers covering the period of his presidency. He also went to Florida with a draft of the script to see Dr. Ray Stannard Baker, who has been regarded as the official biographer of Wilson, and to North Carolina to see Josephus Daniels, a member of Wilson's cabinet. He had consultations with many other people who knew Wilson, and other employees of defendant also spoke to people who had personal knowledge of the late President. The director of the picture, Henry King, and at least one other employee of defendant, personally visited Trenton, New York, Baltimore and Washington to examine the buildings and rooms in which Wilson had lived in order that these and their furnishings would be faithfully duplicated in the picture. The film rights to a number of books and plays¹ were purchased and material in these works was used by Trotti in writing the script. In addition, Trotti received much help from Dr. Baker, who was hired by defendant as consultant and technical advisor. Dr. Baker spent five months at defendant's studios, and not only took an active part in the preparation of the picture, but also, on two occasions, visited Mrs. Edith Bolling Wilson, the late President's wife, to get her suggestions for script revisions.

Defendant denies infringing plaintiff's play and contends that insofar as screen material was derived from written sources it was from works other than plaintiff's play. The script writer, the director, and the producer of the motion picture all deny having read either the play or the synopsis thereof before the picture was completed, and all deny copying therefrom.

In view of the possibility of access to the play, it becomes necessary to determine whether there is sufficient similarity between the two works to warrant an inference that parts of the motion picture were copied from the play. In such circumstances, the similarities must be such that copying is not merely suspected, but is established with reasonable certainty. See Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. v. Dieckhaus, 8 Cir., 1946, 153 F.2d 893, 899, certiorari denied 329 U.S. 716, 67 S.Ct. 46, 91 L.Ed. 621; Christie v. Harris, D.C.S.D.N.Y.1942, 47 F.Supp. 39, 40, affirmed 2 Cir., 154 F.2d 827, certiorari denied 329 U.S. 734, 67 S.Ct. 97, 91 L.Ed. 634.

As an aid in determining the similarity in the two works, plaintiff has submitted a list of items which defendant is alleged to have copied from the play. These fall into three classes. In the first are items which are so dissimilar that it requires considerable effort to discover any point of resemblance. Illustrative of these is plaintiff's claim that the following conversations are similar: In the play, Wilson tells McAdoo that "the fashionable dinner table is the source of many things that are not so, things that one never hears anywhere else", and McAdoo then relates the latest story about German barbarity. In the motion picture, Wilson remarks to his wife that a great deal can be learned by listening to what one's enemies say, and the two then laughingly relate how Mrs. Wilson has been called a German spy, how the President was charged with having bargained with Wall Street to bring on the war and with being insane, and the like. Many other items on the list are equally dissimilar.

In the second group are instances of claimed similarity, where the material in the motion picture bears a closer resemblance to other sources than to the play. In this group can be placed such items as the scene in which the newsboy comments on the Princeton football team², and a senator's remark about Italians burning candles before Wilson's picture³.

The third group consists of items which can be attributed as much to a common source as to material in the play. Typical of this category are the following: The signing of the peace treaty at Versailles, the scene with Senator Lodge on Wilson's last day in office⁴, and a speech, which, in the film, is delivered at Pueblo⁵.

It is clear that the majority of instances of purported...