Waring v. WDAS Broadcasting Station, Inc.

27 Pa. D. & C. 297, 1936 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 103
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedJanuary 16, 1936
Docketno. 9053
StatusPublished

This text of 27 Pa. D. & C. 297 (Waring v. WDAS Broadcasting Station, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waring v. WDAS Broadcasting Station, Inc., 27 Pa. D. & C. 297, 1936 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 103 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1936).

Opinion

McDevitt, P. J.,

Plaintiff or complainant seeks to restrain respondent from broadcasting any phonograph records made, produced or created by him. Complainant is an orchestra conductor, which pursuit he has followed for more than 18 years, and, under a special arrangement with the RCA Victor Company, in the latter part of 1932, made certain victrola phonograph records which will be referred to in the discussion by name and number. These records were made with the distinct understanding with the RCA Victor Company that they were to be sold for customary home use and not to be used for broadcasting or any other commercial purposes. To carry out this limitation, the recording [298]*298company stamped upon said records “Not Licensed for Radio Broadcast”. Regardless of this restriction, respondent, a Delaware corporation engaged in commercial radio broadcasting in the City of Philadelphia, did, on various occasions, use complainant’s recordings in violation of the limitation stamped thereon.

At the trial of this case, prominent composers, theatrical producers, agents and managers, musicians and others well known to and identified with the theatrical and musical world testified that such use of complainant’s records was very harmful both to his commercial worth and his artistic reputation; that said use would affect his contractual possibilities, and as such constituted unfair competition.

Complainant’s contention has been that he has a property right in the product of his intellectual effort, and respondent’s answer is that the sale of said records to the public is not only a publication, but a waiving of any right of property in the use of said records in any manner whatsoever.

Where legislation has not kept abreast with the advance of science, invention and the tangible or intangible product of intellectual effort, equity has always proven the bulwark of protection to conserve property rights and to prevent illegal exploitation of the efforts, ability and production of the discoverer, producer, scholar or inventor. Such famous inventions and discoveries as the telephone, phonograph, motion picture films, both silent and speaking, wireless, radio and the airplane all preceded legislation governing, controlling and protecting them, and, in the absence of legislation, equity took its place. As the inventor is a benefactor of mankind, so the performing artist is a creator and disseminator of the beauties of nature, of the aesthetic efforts of mankind, and, because of the benefits derived by the latter, must be aided, encouraged and protected.

But a decade ago, the radio was a hope. Today it has destroyed all artificial and real boundaries between states [299]*299and nations. It has outdistanced time and has bridged the watery chasm between continents. It is now a useful as well as a commercial property or entity and employs a vast number of performing artists, interpreters and commentators, all of whom bring amusement, education or culture into the homes of its users. These artists, whether they be talented or amateur, by their efforts assist in the dissemination of knowledge and news and in the development of trade and commercial enterprise, and their contribution to the cultural life of any community is incalculable. The radio has become the news source, the magazine, the press, the stage, the concert hall, the opera house, the lecture platform, the political rostrum and even the school of ethics and physical culture, of hygiene and domestic science. The radio carries to the loftiest and the lowliest education and information, and so to equity must look those who contribute to this most important adjunct of our daily life for protection against the unlawful invasion of their rights and the illegal exploitation of their talents.

To permit exploitation would of necessity bring retaliation, which could only result in the talented artists, whose works are now available for public consumption and the advancement of education, curtailing their efforts for their own protection, which would mean a contraction of the sphere of their activities. It would be against public policy, detrimental to the public interest and a deprivation of the public’s enjoyment of the efforts of these talented persons to permit what is tantamount to confiscation of their intangible or incorporeal rights. Legislation may eventually catch up with the advance of science and the development of unusual natural talents, but, until it does, equity must keep free the channels of barter and trade, as well as protect the cultural and educational side of human endeavor and activity, for it has been well said, “Man does not live by bread alone”.

The chancellor approaches the consideration of the important character of this case conscious of the far reach[300]*300ing effect of his opinion and mindful of the fact that the distinction between corporeal and incorporeal property was established in the earliest days of our legal jurispru- ' dence. Incorporeal property has always been defined as that which consists in legal right merely. The courts have always recognized the common-law right of property in all intellectual efforts; and the scope of that right with respect to its creator has extended protection to the latter, so that his performance or expression of talent could not be used to the detriment of his artistic reputation or his financial injury. Such artists have been protected from interference in their contractual relations, from unfair competition, and from the invasion of their privacy, to the end “that no one should be permitted to derive benefit or gain from the intellectual efforts of another without permission or account”. In the discussion to follow, the chancellor will consider the disastrous effects that will follow illegal, unlawful.and inequitable invasion of the intangible rights of the performing artist, with respect to his reputation, his financial rewards, the rights of the public and the sphere or scope of the contractual relationship of the respective contracting parties.

Equitable recognition and regulation of these rights can never be construed so that the mechanical performance of the efforts would be abolished or withdrawn or generally curtailed. Regulation is to be accepted in its customary and generally accepted meaning, and only such inferences can be drawn from the regulations as will legally protect the rights, tangible or intangible, corporeal or incorporeal, that are not now provided for by statutory law.

Considerable confusion has been caused by the misconstruction of performance and publication. Publication in many instances releases control of the intangible rights of the producer, but performance such as this complainant seeks to protect is not a publication in any sense or manner that could be classified with the publication of a book. His performance or contribution is in a strict sense a [301]*301creation of the artist, which cannot be completely duplicated by another without mechanical means. His talent and his personality are unique, and, because of that, have a high monetary value. His interpretive production is as personal to himself as his name, his photograph or his signature; by his talents he is known to the world, and by the same yardstick is his commercial value measured. It is the unlawful appropriation of these talents and the consequent deterioration of his commercial value that brings this complainant into equity.

The defense, in a word, is that these rights of the complainant have not been recognized by the courts.

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Bluebook (online)
27 Pa. D. & C. 297, 1936 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waring-v-wdas-broadcasting-station-inc-pactcomplphilad-1936.