Re: Was Judge Hand good for (c)-law?

On Mon, March 23, 1998, Tim Phillips <phillips[_at_]phyast.nhn.ou.edu> wrote:
>
> I think Judge Learned hand's dictum about someone re-inventing
> the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is nothing but legal hot air. In
> such a case the prior art should be held to invalidate the
> later copyright.
>
> I think the ruling in the "Darandalla" case, Fred Fisher
> v. Dillingham, 298 F. 145 (S.D.N.Y. 1924) was wrong.
>
> Did Judge hand do ANYTHING good for the development of
> copyright law???
>
> Just wondering.

You may want to read a few more of Hand's opinions. I don't believe, among other things, he would ever have referred to "re-inventing" a copyrighted work.

Also see Gerald Gunther, LEARNED HAND: THE MAN AND THE JUDGE 315-28 (Knopf 1994), including Gunther's valuable notes, regarding Hand's copyright jurisprudence.

Craig Joyce
<cjoyce[_at_]uh.edu> Received on Tue Mar 24 1998 - 16:40:09 GMT