Desclee & Cie., S. A. v. Nemmers

190 F. Supp. 381, 128 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 186, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6061
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJanuary 20, 1961
Docket57-C-107
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 190 F. Supp. 381 (Desclee & Cie., S. A. v. Nemmers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Desclee & Cie., S. A. v. Nemmers, 190 F. Supp. 381, 128 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 186, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6061 (E.D. Wis. 1961).

Opinion

GRUBB, District Judge.

This is an action for unfair competition to enjoin the alleged photographic duplication of publications of the plaintiff and its licensees and for an accounting and damages in conjunction therewith. After denial of plaintiff’s and defendants’ motions for summary judgment, the case was tried to the court on the issue of liability only.

Plaintiff, Desclee & Cie., S. A., hereafter referred to as “Desclee,” is a Belgian corporation with principal offices at 13 rue B. Frison, Tournai, Belgium. Among other works, Desclee publishes the Liber Usualis, a collection of Gregorian chants. This work appears in a number of editions in Latin and in English. In issue here are the English editions of 1950 and 1953. The 1953 edition of the Liber Usualis indicates that the work contains an Introduction and Rubrics in English and that it is edited by the Benedictines of Solesmes. It bears the notice, “Copyright 1952 by Desclee & Co., Tournai (Belg.).”

Desclee has also printed a publication entitled Plain Song for Schools, in two parts, which consists of a collection of masses and occasional chants. The manuscript for this work was submitted to the Abbey of Solesmes for review, approval, and editing. This book was originally published by Rushworth & Dreaper Ltd. of Liverpool, England, in 1930. Copies of this work used on the trial bear 1933 and 1934 copyright notices by Des-clee & Co., Tournai (Belg.).

A photolithographic reproduction of pages of Plain Song for Schools was published in a paper-bound work entitled Standard Gregorian Chants by McLaughlin and Reilly Company of Boston, Massachusetts. The 1946 edition of this work bears the following notices:

“Solesmes rhythmic signs used throughout by special permission of Desclee & Co., Tournai, Belgium” and
“Contents and Collection Copyright. MCMXLVI by McLaughlin and Reilly Co., Boston, Mass. International Copyright secured Made in U.S.A.”

The 1946 edition of Standard Gregorian Chants is no longer offered for sale.

In addition to the notice contained in the 1946 edition of Standard Gregorian Chants regarding use of the Solesmes rhythmic signs, a letter from Desclee to McLaughlin and Reilly regarding royalties due on this work was offered to show a licensing agreement between them. Desclee’s witness believed, but could not testify with certainty or from his own knowledge, that no further editions of Standard Gregorian Chants were published following that of 1946 and prior to 1953 and that a transfer of copyright from Desclee to McLaughlin and Reilly took place in 1953. He stated that there might have been additional printings of this publication during these years. There is no evidence indicating whether subsequent printings, if any were made, were identical with or differed from the 1946 edition, nor does the evidence establish that the copyright to the 1946 edition was transferred to Desclee.

A revised edition of Standard Gregorian Chants was published by McLaughlin and Reilly in 1953. It bears a 1953 copy *384 right notice by Desclee and was printed in Belgium.

The Abbey of Solesmes reviewed, approved, and corrected proofs of certain chants published by Desclee which were included in an unspecified edition of Standard Gregorian Chants.

The principal sources of the Gregorian chants appearing in the Liber Usualis are the Vatican editions of the Gradúale Romanum and the Antiphonale Roman-um, published in 1908 and 1912, respectively. Some melodies are the work of the Abbey of Solesmes. The musical notes or neums of the melodies found in the Liber Usualis, in Plain Song for Schools, and in Standard Gregorian Chants are annotated by certain signs denoting rhythm; namely, the “mora” or dot, the “ictus” and the “episema” or vertical and horizontal lines or dashes, and the comma. The annotations of the melodies with these rhythmic signs is done in accordance with the Solesmes theory of performance of the chants.

The Solesmes method or system of rhythmical annotation is based on a study of manuscripts of liturgical music dating from the tenth to the fifteenth century. The monks at the Abbey of Solesmes undertook this research to rediscover the original system of rhythmical annotation which had been forgotten. They devised a system of markings to make clear-The ancient rhythm and to restore its manner of performance. The Solesmes method is one of several systems worked out for this purpose. Notwithstanding some criticism of the Soles-mes method, defendant, Erwin E. Nemmers, acknowledged in his book, Twenty Centuries of Catholic Church Music, that the Solesmes school is commonly followed and that “the Solesmes performance (and rhythmic theory) results in a fine piece of artistry.”

Raymond LeRoux, a monk at the Abbey of St. Pierre, Solesmes, France, prepared the plan, composition, and editing of the manuscripts of the melodies of the chants printed by Desclee in which paleographic experts had placed the rhythmic signs. The manuscripts thus made ready by the Abbey were transcribed and prepared for printing by about twenty men under the direction of Henri LeMaire who was chief of the musical typography section of Desclee at the time of the printing of the Liber Usualis and Plain Song for Schools. Each page of the handset musical typography required about four hours of work.

Under a contractual agreement, effective at all times pertinent to this suit, between Desclee and the Abbey regarding the preparation and printing of annotated Gregorian chant editions, Desclee is granted exclusive printing rights for said chants, and the Abbey is to receive a stated remuneration as well as certain royalties on sale of publications containing annotated chants by Desclee or by third parties authorized by Desclee. Under this contract Desclee is charged with taking all necessary steps to prevent infringing or unauthorized reproductions of the rhythmical signs of Solesmes.

Desclee’s American customers were stated to include the Gregorian Institute of America, Toledo, Ohio; McLaughlin and Reilly Company of Boston, Massachusetts; Fisher Brothers of New Jersey; and congregations and institutions not otherwise identified. The publication Standard Gregorian Chants, editions of 1946 and 1953, bears the legend, “For Schools Churches Seminaries Convents.”

Defendants are partners and do business as publishers under the firm name of M. L. Nemmers Publishing Company at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They publish and offer for sale a paper-bound, 24-page work entitled Gregorian Chants consisting of 121 annotated chants. This publication bears a 1956 copyright notice by M. L. Nemmers Publishing Company. Approximately 2,000 copies thereof have been printed.

Defendants’ publication was prepared by a photographic duplicative process from materials clipped from the pages of other books which were assembled according to defendants’ arrangement and mounted on a backboard. Defendants’ testimony indicated that the preparation *385 of this work required about 400 hours and that it was intended for use by children. No particular or potential purchasers of Gregorian Chants were identified.

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Bluebook (online)
190 F. Supp. 381, 128 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 186, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6061, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/desclee-cie-s-a-v-nemmers-wied-1961.