United States Supreme Court case
Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus
Supreme Court of the United States Full case name Bobbs-Merrill Company v. Straus, et al. doing business as R.H. Macy & Company Citations 210 U.S. 339 (more )28 S. Ct. 722; 52 L. Ed. 1086; 1908 U.S. LEXIS 1513; 6 Ohio L. Rep. 323
Prior Judgment for defendants, 139 F. 155 (S.D.N.Y. 1905); affirmed, 147 F. 15 (2nd Cir. 1906) Subsequent None Copyright holders did not have the statutory right to control the price of subsequent resales of lawfully purchased copies of their work. Second Circuit affirmed.
Chief Justice
Melville Fuller
Associate Justices
John M. Harlan · David J. Brewer Edward D. White · Rufus W. Peckham Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes Jr. William R. Day · William H. Moody
Majority Day, joined by unanimous U.S. Rev. Stat. §§ 4952, 4965, 4970 (Copyright Act of 1897)
Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus , 210 U.S. 339 (1908), was a United States Supreme Court decision concerning the scope of rights accorded owners of a copyright versus owners of a particular copy of a copyrighted work. This was a case of first impression concerning whether the copyright laws permit an owner to control a purchaser's subsequent sale of a copyrighted work. The court stated the issue as:
Does the sole right to vend (named in 4952) secure to the owner of the copyright the right, after a sale of the book to a purchaser, to restrict future sales of the book at retail, to the right to sell it at a certain price per copy, because of a notice in the book that a sale at a different price will be treated as an infringement, which notice has been brought home to one undertaking to sell for less than the named sum?
The case centered on the publisher setting additional terms not specifically stated in the statute and claiming that the work was licensed and not sold. The Court's ruling established what came to be known as the "first-sale doctrine ", which was later codified as § 109(a) of the Copyright Act of 1976 .
Facts [ ]
Bobbs-Merrill Company sold a copyrighted novel, The Castaway by Hallie Erminie Rives , with the notice, "The price of this book at retail is $1 net. No dealer is licensed to sell it at a lower price, and a sale at a lower price will be treated as an infringement of the copyright" printed immediately below the copyright notice. The defendants, Isidor and Nathan Straus representing R.H. Macy & Co. , purchased large lots of books at wholesale and sold copies of the book at retail at the price of 89 cents a copy.
Holding [ ]
The court held first that the copyright statutes protect an owner's right to "multiply and sell" the work on their own terms. The statutory right to sell, however, did not also create a right to limit resale.
The court did not hold that a contract or license imposed on the first sale could not create an obligation. In this case, there was no contract between the owner and the original purchaser, and there was not privity of contract between the owner and any third party.
See also [ ]
External links [ ]
U.S. Supreme Court Article I case law
Enumeration Clause of Section II
Utah v. Evans (2002)
Department of Commerce v. New York (2019)
Trump v. New York (2020)
Qualifications Clauses of Sections II and III
Powell v. McCormack (1969)
U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995)
Elections Clause of Section IV
U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995)
Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (2015)
Origination Clause of Section VII
Presentment Clause of Section VII
Pocket Veto Case (1929)
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha (1983)
Clinton v. City of New York (1998)
Hylton v. United States (1796)
Collector v. Day (1871)
Springer v. United States (1881)
Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895)
Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. (1916)
Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. (1922)
United States v. Butler (1936)
Helvering v. Davis (1937)
South Dakota v. Dole (1987)
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)
Commerce Clause of Section VIII
Coinage Clause of Section VIII
Copyright Clause of Section VIII
Copyright Act of 1790 Patent Act of 1793
Tyler v. Tuel (1810)
Evans v. Eaton (1818)
Evans v. Eaton (1822)
Evans v. Hettich (1822)
Patent infringement case lawPatentability case lawCopyright 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
Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Manufacturing Co. (1917)
Morton Salt Co. v. G.S. Suppiger Co. (1942)
Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 Lanham Act
Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc. (1982)
San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee (1987)
Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc. (1992)
Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Products Co. (1995)
College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board (1999)
Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. (2001)
TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc. (2001)
Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. (2003)
Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc. (2003)
Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. (2014)
POM Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co. (2014)
Matal v. Tam (2017)
Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)
Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc. (2020)
Copyright Act of 1976
Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. (1977)
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (1984)
Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder (1985)
Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises (1985)
Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid (1989)
Stewart v. Abend (1990)
Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co. (1991)
Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. (1994)
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. (1994)
Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc. (1996)
Quality King Distributors Inc., v. L'anza Research International Inc. (1998)
Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (1998)
New York Times Co. v. Tasini (2001)
Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003)
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. (2005)
Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick (2010)
Golan v. Holder (2012)
Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2013)
Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (2014)
American Broadcasting Cos., Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (2014)
Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc. (2017)
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com (2019)
Rimini Street Inc. v. Oracle USA Inc. (2019)
Allen v. Cooper (2020)
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. (2020)
Other copyright cases Other patent cases
Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co. (1908)
Minerals Separation, Ltd. v. Hyde (1916)
United States v. General Electric Co. (1926)
United States v. Univis Lens Co. (1942)
Altvater v. Freeman (1943)
Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp. (1945)
Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co. (1948)
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp. (1950)
Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co. v. Linde Air Products Co. (1950)
Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co. (1961)
Compco Corp. v. Day-Brite Lighting, Inc. (1964)
Wilbur-Ellis Co. v. Kuther (1964)
Brulotte v. Thys Co. (1964)
Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp. (1965)
Graham v. John Deere Co. (1966)
United States v. Adams (1966)
Brenner v. Manson (1966)
Lear, Inc. v. Adkins (1969)
Anderson's-Black Rock, Inc. v. Pavement Salvage Co. (1969)
Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc. (1971)
Gottschalk v. Benson (1972)
United States v. Glaxo Group Ltd. (1973)
Dann v. Johnston (1976)
Sakraida v. Ag Pro Inc. (1976)
Parker v. Flook (1978)
Diamond v. Chakrabarty (1980)
Diamond v. Diehr (1981)
Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc. (1989)
Eli Lilly & Co. v. Medtronic, Inc. (1990)
Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. (1996)
Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chemical Co. (1997)
Pfaff v. Wells Electronics, Inc. (1998)
Dickinson v. Zurko (1999)
Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank (1999)
J. E. M. Ag Supply, Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (2001)
Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co. (2002)
Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. (2005)
eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. (2006)
Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc. (2006)
LabCorp v. Metabolite, Inc. (2006)
MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. (2007)
KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. (2007)
Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp. (2007)
Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. (2008)
Bilski v. Kappos (2010)
Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A. (2011)
Stanford University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. (2011)
Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Ltd. Partnership (2011)
Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (2012)
Kappos v. Hyatt (2012)
Bowman v. Monsanto Co. (2013)
Gunn v. Minton (2013)
Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. (2013)
FTC v. Actavis, Inc. (2013)
Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International (2014)
Akamai Techs., Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc. (2014)
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc. (2015)
Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC (2015)
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. (2016)
TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC (2017)
Peter v. NantKwest, Inc. (2019)
Other trademark cases
Necessary and Proper Clause of Section VIII
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Lambert v. Yellowley (1926)
Gonzales v. Raich (2005)
United States v. Comstock (2010)
United States v. Kebodeaux (2013)
Habeas corpus Suspension Clause of Section IX
Ex parte Bollman (1807)
Ex parte Merryman (1861)
Ex parte Endo (1944)
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. St. Cyr (2001)
Boumediene v. Bush (2008)
Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam (2020)
No Bills of Attainder or Ex post facto Laws Clause of Section IX
Contract Clause of Section X
Import-Export Clause of Section X
Brown v. Maryland (1827)
Canton Railroad Co. v. Rogan (1951)
Compact Clause of Section X
Copyright law in the United States
17 U.S.C.
Copyright Clause
United States Copyright Office
Copyright status of works by the federal government of the United States
Copyright status of works by subnational governments of the United States
Statutes
Pre-1976 1970s 1980s 1990s
Visual Artists Rights Act (1990)
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (1990)
Copyright Renewal Act of 1992
Audio Home Recording Act (1992)
Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994)
No Electronic Theft Act (1994)
Copyright Term Extension Act (1998)
Fairness in Music Licensing Act of 1998
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998)
Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act
WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act
2000s
Family Entertainment and Copyright Act (2005)
2010s 2020s
Precedents and rulings
Supreme Court Appeal courts
Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc. (2d Cir. 1964)
Roth Greeting Cards v. United Card Co. (9th Cir. 1970)
Eltra Corp. v. Ringer (4th Cir. 1978)
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. (3d Cir. 1983)
Midway Manufacturing Co. v. Artic International, Inc. (7th Cir. 1983)
Fisher v. Dees (9th Cir. 1986)
Whelan v. Jaslow (3d Cir. 1986)
Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd. (5th Cir. 1988)
Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc. (2d Cir. 1992)
Dr. Seuss Enters., L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc. (9th Cir. 1997)
Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc. (2d Cir. 1998)
Nunez v. Caribbean Int’l News Corp. (1st Cir. 2000)
A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. (9th Cir. 2001)
Veeck v. Southern Building Code Congress Int'l (5th Cir. 2002)
In re Aimster Copyright Litigation (7th Cir. 2003)
NXIVM Corp. v. Ross Institute (2d Cir. 2004)
Omega S.A. v. Costco Wholesale Corp. (9th Cir. 2008)
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. v. American Buddha (2d Cir. 2011)
Monge v. Maya Magazines, Inc. (9th Cir. 2012)
Seltzer v. Green Day, Inc (9th Cir. 2013)
Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. (2d Cir. 2015)
Lower courts