The screen writer (Apr-Oct 1948)

Morris E* Cohn {Continued from Page 10) taneously regard them as largely similar. "If such similarities exist as to justify an inference of copying of protectible material, it is necessary to prove only that a substantial part of respondents' play was copied to sustain liability on the part of appellants.* * * A subsequent author cannot avoid liability by making changes in, or by omissions from, or by additions to, the original story. Unlawful appropriation cannot be excused by a showing that there was much of the original work which was not appropriated.* * * If similar emotions are portrayed by a sequence of events presented in like manner, expression, and form, then infringement is apparent. * * * 'Copying is not confined to a literary repetition, but includes various modes in which the matter of any publication may be adopted, imitated, or transferred with more or less colorable alteration.' A picture may be a piracy in whole or in part, irrespective of the fact that some of the similarities may logically result from identity of CUSTOM TAILORED FORSTMANN Flannels, Worsteds, Gabardines $11 5.00 to $135.00 4 Week Delivery 'timpy'a Utt. (importers locale, theme, and subject matter." OCREENPLAYS in search of a ^producer are not copyrighted under federal statutes. However, they enjoy "common law" protection against pilfering. The opinion in the case points out that while copyrighted works are subject to "fair use" by the publisher, unpublished uncopyrighted material enjoys even greater protection because it is not subject to "fair use." That phrase is defined as a use for "some legitimate, fair and reasonable purpose, such as illustration, comment, criticism, and the like." The kind and degree of protection given to a commodity often determines the life of the industry which depends upon it. A body of law which would water down title to literary property would injure the consuming industries as well as the writers, and would ultimately pour all works, whether on manuscript, wax or film, into a public well from which all could draw. For the benefit of all who deal in literature and its byproducts the strongest legal sanctions should be imposed against misappropriation. The difficulty is to accomplish that end but at the same time to avoid stifling further creative effort in similar fields. Browning owned the poem about Blenheim; his ownership could not of course extend to the battle as a subject for further creative work. To draw a line between the protection of work already done and the field which yet remains open to others is a delicate and often extremely difficult problem. It would be this writer's disposition, in doubtful cases, to afford greater protection to completed works. Art is long and a lifetime is fleeting; the world of unexploited ideas is infinite, and in close cases the risks of preventing creative writing may well be balanced by securing to the writer a better assurance of a livelihood from his finished works. NOTE TO PRODUCERS Too much polishing weakens rather than improves a work. —Pliny The Younger, b. AD 61 AT PARAMOUNT STUDIO — HI. 6197 COLUMBIA SQUARE — HI. 9005 HOLLYWOOD & VINE — HU. 2-9660 Free Parking Corpora tion rp The Screen Writer, June-July, 1948 21