Ohman v. City of New York

168 F. 953, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 5424
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York
DecidedMarch 8, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 168 F. 953 (Ohman v. City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ohman v. City of New York, 168 F. 953, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 5424 (circtsdny 1909).

Opinion

RAY, District Judge.

The complaint purports to set out seven separate causes of action, five for the violation or infringement of copyrights for a map of the borough of Manhattan and a part of the Bronx, N. Y., and a map of the Bronx, part of the city of New York, N. Y., and a map of the borough of Manhattan, N. Y., and a map of the borough of Queens; and plaintiff seeks to recover the statutory penalties claimed to have heen incurred by defendant because of the said violations or infringements. The sixth and seventh causes of action are to recover damages for mutilating and selling maps made and designed by [954]*954plaintiff as his work, same having his name thereon. Each cause of action alleges that the plaintiff is a subject of the Empire of Great Britain and Ireland, temporarily domiciled and residing in the city and county of New York, in the Southern district of the state of New York, and that the defendant is a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the state of New York and domiciled in said city and county.'

In addition, the first cause of action alleges that in the year 1898, there was duly copyrighted, pursuant t'o the laws of the United States, a map of the borough of Manhattan and a part of the borough of the Bronx, being a part of the said present city of New York, and that “prior to the year 1904 all the rights and interests in the said copyright had devolved upon and were held by the plaintiff”; also that the said original map, as copyrighted, had been recopyrighted, or the copyright thereof renewed, by the plaintiff, and that the same, as issued and published by him, was marked, in accordance with the laws of the United States in such case made and provided, “Copyright 1904 by A. R. Ohman.”

The complaint then alleges that on or about May 25, 1906, the defendant city, pursuant to the laws of the state of New York, was the publisher and responsible editor of the City Record, a publication relating to the affairs of said city of New York, and that, by its servants, agents and employés, without the authority or license of the plaintiff, the said defendant did in such publication utter, publish, and circulate a copy or reproduction of the said copyrighted map of the plaintiff by inserting such copy or reproduction in the issue of the City Record of that date, May 25, 1906, and thereafter, without the authority or license of the plaintiff, did publish and distribute the said copy, with the name of the plaintiff, in the form and manner as set forth in the said copy of the City Record of that date. A copy of the said publication of that date containing said map is annexed to the complaint. The complaint also alleges that an edition of 12,000 copies of said Record of that date, without the authority or license of the plaintiff, was printed, published, and circulated by the defendant; that defendant in so doing willfully violated and infringed the rights of the plaintiff “in and to said map, and his copyright thereof, and the reproduction thereof, as secured to him by the laws of the United States.” The complaint then says that this was done “to the plaintiff’s loss and damage, and in and whereby the defendant incurred, under the laws of the United States, penalties, in all amounting to the sum of six thousand dollars.”

The second cause of action is a duplication of the first, except that it relates to a map of the borough of the Bronx, a part of the city of New York.

Aside from the first allegation above stated to be found in such cause' of action, the third cause of action reads as follows:

“Sixth. That in the year 1905 the plaintiff duly copyrighted, pursuant to the laws of the United States, a map of the borough of the Bronx, being part of the said present city of New York, and that the said city, in violation of the plaintiff’s rights, and without his license or authority, caused to be reproduced and published, and issued and distributed, through, in and by the department of finance of the said city, copies and reproductions of the plaintiff’s said copyrighted map, to his loss and damage, and for statutory penalties as provided by law, in the sum of five thousand (5,009) dollars.”

[955]*955The fourth cause of action is a duplication of the third, except it relates to a map of the borough of Manhattan.

The fifth cause of action is the same, except it relates to a map of the borough of Queens.

The sixth and seventh causes of action, so far as appears from the complaint, have nothing to do with a copyrighted map or publication of any kind or description, except that plaintiff had marked it “Copyright 1904 by A. R. Ohman.”

These seem to be causes of action for a sort of libel or slander upon either the plaintiff, as a designer and publisher of maps, or on the map, mentioned therein, itself. There is no allegation or statement in these causes of action that the maps referred to therein and alleged to have b?en changed and mutilated by the defendant were ever copyrighted. These causes of action set forth that the plaintiff for 15 years has been «¡gaged in the business of designing, preparing, and publishing maps, which is his business; that he has acquired a reputation as a competent, careful, and accurate designer and publisher of maps; and that, says the sixth cause of action, “during the year 1904 this plaintiff did design, add to, and improve a map already owned by him, and produced and published the same, it being a map of the borough of Manhattan and part of the Bronx, * * * and that said map was not given or dedicated to the public, but was marked by him, in accordance with the laws in such cases made and provided, ‘Copyright 1904 by A. R. Oilman,’ ” and that such map had been sold, etc., and was well known as the design and production of the plaintiff. The complaint then alleges iliat the defendant then took and marked up and altered and mutilated a copy of such map, and then caused such marked-up, altered, and mutilated copy to be reproduced and published, containing thereon the name, “A. R. Ohman,” as a supplement in the said City Record of May 23. 1906, and then caused 12,000 copies of such Record containing such marked-up, altered, and mutilated map t'o be circulated in the city of New York and elsewhere, “thereby causing a mutilated and altered copy of his map to be so circulated as if the same had been produced by him, to his loss aud damage in the sum of six thousand (6,000) doi - lars.” The seventh cause of action is the same, except it refers to a map of the borough of the Bronx. The complaint alleges a presentation of his claim for penalties and damages, and a refusal to adjust, settle, or pay same.

The defendant demurs on the ground that the alleged causes of action from 1 to 6, inclusive, do not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; that the sixth and seventh do not state facts sufficient to constitute a cau.se of action; and that this court has no jurisdiction thereof. Also, that the complaint is multifarious, in that different causes of action relating to different subject-matters have been improperly joined; that the causes of action relating to copyrights relate to differ - ent copyrights, and claim to recover statutory penalties for a violation of plaintiff’s rights thereunder, and that 6 and 7 relate to claims for damages upon principles relating to the good will of trades, etc.

The first and second causes of action say that “in the year 1898 there was duly copyrighted, pursuant to the laws of the United States, 'a [956]

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Bluebook (online)
168 F. 953, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 5424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ohman-v-city-of-new-york-circtsdny-1909.