S. S White Dental Co. v. Sibley

• Decision Date: 10 May 1889
• Citation: 38 F. 751
• Parties: S. S. WHITE DENTAL CO. v. SIBLEY.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

38 F. 751

S. S. WHITE DENTAL CO. v. SIBLEY.

United States Circuit Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

May 10, 1889

Syllabus by the Court

The plaintiff's assignor devised and copyrighted a chart showing 'gum sections' of artificial teeth of his manufacture, each section being arranged in a certain way and having thereon certain auxiliary lines and figures, by means of which the dentists who used said 'gum sections' could obtain information that could not be conveyed by any old method of illustration. Defendant made a similar chart, in which his teeth were illustrated in the same manner as complainant's. Held plaintiff's copyright did not cover the plan or arrangement of the gum sections of his chart, and therefore defendant did not infringe.

To infringe a copyright the defendant must have actually copied or 'pirated' the production of the plaintiff, and not merely, while ignorant of it, have made something similar.

Jos. C Fraley, for complainant.

Joshua Pusey, for defendant.

BUTLER J.

The plaintiff's assignor devised an ingenious plan for advertising artificial teeth. By the publication of charts showing illustrated sections of teeth, (in connection with numbers,) so arranged as to convey information respecting their character, size, shape, etc., purchasers are enabled to order what they need without inspection. The object is well stated in the complainant's argument, as follows:

'The object of thus including the copyrighted matter in a general catalogue was as follows: Complainant is the leading manufacturer of artificial teeth in the world; its last year's sales amounting to the neighborhood of seven millions of teeth. About one-half of these were manufactured and sold in groups of several teeth connected together, and called 'gum sections,' one of which is offered in evidence as 'Complainant's Exhibit Gum Section.' These sections are of course used in making sets of artificial teeth, and imitate, as closely as possible, in size and arrangement, the various groups of teeth and configurations of gum found in the human mouth. Certain definite types in the shape of the teeth, and the curvature of the section, are well recognized as characteristic, and are made by all manufacturers. Where a dentist resides in the neighborhood of a dental depot he can, if he so desires, bring the mould or impression made from the mouth, directly to the store, and by actually trying the sections therein, obtain one which will fit the mould. Where, however, he resides at a distance, or for other reasons does not make the selection with the mould and the section of teeth actually in his hands, he must, perforce, order the sections from a dealer by mail or otherwise.'

The object is further illustrated by the following testimony of Dr. Starr '(a) It is the custom of the house to issue from time to time catalogues containing pictorial representations of goods they are placing before the profession, and, among other things, artificial teeth. The difficulty has been to convey a proper representation of artificial teeth. Illustrations heretofore have been made which do not convey a correct representation, as in all selections for teeth in the mouth the central incisor is taken as a key to the whole set, and such representations did not convey a correct representation of that tooth. ...