Triangle Publications v. New England Newspaper Pub. Co.

• Decision Date: 08 July 1942
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 1911.
• Citation: 46 F. Supp. 198
• Parties: TRIANGLE PUBLICATIONS, Inc., et al. v. NEW ENGLAND NEWSPAPER PUB. CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

46 F. Supp. 198

TRIANGLE PUBLICATIONS, Inc., et al. v. NEW ENGLAND NEWSPAPER PUB. CO. et al.

Civ. No. 1911.

District Court, D. Massachusetts.

July 8, 1942.

Joseph N. Welch, David Burstein, and Hale & Dorr, all of Boston, Mass., and Robert M. Green, Harold E. Kohn, and Murdoch, Paxson, Kalish & Green, all of Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.

Henry M. Leen, John F. Rich, and Burns & Brandon, all of Boston, Mass., for defendant.

WYZANSKI, District Judge.

In view of the detailed findings and conclusions filed in this case, this opinion deals only with those questions of the law of copyright infringement and unfair competition that may be of general interest.

Plaintiffs publish throughout the nation daily and monthly periodicals specializing in news and information about race horses. In Massachusetts they compete with defendants who publish daily newspapers of general circulation that incidentally carry information about race horses.

Plaintiffs' daily periodicals carry "race result charts" for every race run on the previous day on each licensed track in North America, and also carry for every horse scheduled to run the next day a "past performance" table. A race result chart shows, with respect to a race already run, these among other facts: the track where the race was run; the condition of the track; the distance; the horses racing; the weights they carried; the jockeys; the post position of the horses; their relative position at the start of the race, at the finish and at four intermediate stages of the race; the distances separating the horses at the six stages of the race; the time of the race; and several staccato sentences commenting in race track parlance on the showing of the horses in that race. A past performance table shows with respect to a horse scheduled to run, these among other facts: when the horse last raced, where, the distance, the condition of the track that day, the winner's time, the type of race, the purse, his relative place at half a dozen stages of the race, his jockey, his equipment, the weight he carried, the odds, the names of the best performers in that race and a one or two word summation of this particular horse's form in that race.

Plaintiffs' monthly periodicals carry, not past performance tables, but an accumulation of all the race result charts for the previous month, together with an index of horses. The index shows on which of plaintiffs' charts during the current year each horse's name appears.

Plaintiffs secure information for all their periodicals through their own representatives stationed at every licensed track in North America. These representatives work in crews, some "calling" their observations of the race as it occurs to others who record upon charts the information as it is called out. In gathering the news plaintiffs spend more than half a million dollars annually. To secure a copyright on all their publications plaintiffs take the appropriate mechanical steps such as affixing a notice and making deposits with the Register of Copyrights.

Defendants do not compile any race result charts of their own. Under license, they publish the race result charts of the Associated Press and, for New England tracks only, the race result charts of plaintiffs. In publishing the charts of others, defendants carry their copyright lines.

In 1939 and 1940 defendants published in narrative form so-called "Last Performances" of race horses. In a typical case defendants stated of the horse "Sheknows" that the horse "May be the right one here. Finished third behind Paul Lee and Rafter in recent sprint outing at Tropical Park, December 27, in slop. Was piloted by Jockey Don Meade in that start but was no match for the top two. Following but creditable fifth in prior sprint test at same meeting, December 23, in a heat which was won by Sun Antioch". During the years 1939 and 1940 defendants secured their information of past races almost exclusively from race result charts in plaintiffs' monthly periodicals.

After April 20, 1941 defendants abandoned narrative accounts and thereafter published in tabular form so-called "Past Performances" of race horses. Defendants' tabular past performances were similar to, but more abbreviated than, the plaintiffs'. The principal items omitted are the relative positions of the horses at the post, at the quarter mile, at the half mile, at the three quarter mile and in the stretch and the distances between the horses at each stage of the race, including the finish. During the period since April 20, 1941 defendants procured the preponderant part of their data on past races from Associated Press charts, from programs published by tracks and from their own personal representatives at tracks; but on what I have found to be an excessive number of occasions, defendants filled in their so-called past performance lines from race result charts in plaintiffs' monthly or perhaps daily periodicals which were not included in their license.

Of the issues of law raised, the most important are three: (1) are the periodicals of plaintiffs "writings of an author" within Section 4 of the Copyright Act of March 4, 1909, 35 Stat. 1075, 1076, U.S.C.A. T. 17, § 4 so as to be subject to copyright; (2) did defendants infringe plaintiffs' copyrights; and (3) was defendants' conduct unfair competition?

A single daily race chart viewed in isolation would be subject to copyright only in part. The whole could not be regarded as copyrightable as a compilation under Section 6 of the Copyright Act, 35 Stat. 1077, U.S.C.A. T. 17, § 6, because the arrangement includes only about a hundred items with reference to a single event that takes less than two minutes to observe and record, and the majority of those items could be collected without labor, skill or judgment by any spectator. To constitute a copyrightable compilation, a compendium must ordinarily result from the labor of assembling, connecting and categorizing disparate facts which in nature occurred in isolation. A compilation, in short, is a synthesis. It is rare indeed that an analysis of any one actual occurrence could be regarded as a compilation. For an account of a single event to be subject to copyright, it must have individuality of expression or must reflect peculiar skill and judgment.

It, therefore, becomes necessary to consider the parts of a single daily race result chart to see which parts are copyrightable. Those which are copied from the race track program or from public bulletin boards are not separately copyrightable, both because they are themselves copied (see Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99, 102, 25 L.Ed. 841) and because they are depersonalized records or news of a single event which any observer could have recorded. International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215, 234, 39 S.Ct. 68, 63 L.Ed. 211, 2 A.L.R. 293; Collins v. Metro-Goldwyn P. Corp., 2 Cir., 106 F. 2d 83, 86; National Tel. News Co. v. Western Union Tel. Co., 7 Cir., 119 F. 294, 60 L.R.A. 805; Clayton v. Stone, C.C.S.D.N. Y., Fed.Cas.No. 2,872; Springfield v. Thame, 1903 89 Law Times 242 (Ch.Div.).

On the other hand, there may be a separate copyright on those parts of a single chart which could not be observed and recorded by one person but which require the combined skill, judgment and effort of several highly trained persons working in unison. Cf. Patterson D. J. in Daily Racing Form Pub. Co. v. Cosmopolitan Press, S.D.N.Y.1934¹. See dictum by Lord Wright in Odhams Press Ltd. v. London & Provincial Sporting News Agency (1929) Ltd., 1936 1 Ch. 357, 364. See, apparently contra, the order of Mack, C. J., in Regal Press Inc. v. Tru-Sport Pub. Co. Inc., S.D.N.Y.1935.¹ That means there may be a copyright, even in the case of a single chart, upon so much of the writing as shows the position of the horses at the start of the race, the position of the horses at intermediate stages of the race, the position at the finish of those horses whose finish is not shown on the public board and the distance between the horses at all stages of the race. There may also be a copyright on the index number of the chart and on the staccato sentences or narrative chart comment, since the former is an original contribution, Cf. Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co., 188 U.S. 239, 251, 23 S.Ct. 298, 47 L.Ed. 460, and the latter may pass for an original description, which it hardly lies in the mouths of lawyers or judges to disparage on the ground it is nothing but a hackneyed arrangement of technical jargon. Chicago Record-Herald Co. v. Tribune Ass'n, 7 Cir., 275 F. 797; Henderson v. Tompkins, C.C.D.Mass., 60 F. 758; Walter v. Steinkopff 1892 3 Ch. 489.

Although the individual race charts looked at separately are subject to protection only in part under the Copyright Law, the arrangement to be found in each issue of plaintiffs' daily publications, Daily Racing Form and The Morning Telegraph, of charts for all races run anywhere in North America during the previous day, together with past performance tables for all horses scheduled to run anywhere in North America during the day of publication, together with miscellaneous information about race horses and an index, is a compilation under Section 6 of the Copyright Act, 35 Stat. 1077, U.S.C.A. T. 17, § 6, and is copyrightable. Daily Racing Form Publishing Co. v. Cosmopolitan Press Inc., S.D.N.Y., 1934, Patterson D. J.,¹ (race results); Callaghan v. Myers, 128 U.S. 617, 9 S.Ct. 177, 32 L.Ed. 547 (headnotes and indices of law reports); Jewelers' Circular Pub. Co. v. Keystone Pub. Co., 2 Cir., 281 F. 83, 26 A.L. R. 571 (directory of the jewelry trade); Egbert v. Greenberg, C.C.N.D.Cal., 100 F. 447, 448, 449 (official form charts); American Trotting Register Ass'n v. Gocher, C.C. N.D.Ohio, 70 F. 237 (Wallace's Year Books); Weatherby & Sons v. International Horse Agency & Exch. Ltd. (1910) 2 Ch. 297, 304 (stud books of brood mares); Mander v. O'Brien (1934) State Reports South Australia, 87, 92 (race...