Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Straus and Straus v. American Publishers' Assn.

231 U.S. 222

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1913-12-01
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • "No more than the patent statute was the copyright act intended to authorize agreements in unlawful restraint of trade...."

Citator

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Cited by
50 opinions

Headnotes

  1. Federal Courts & Jurisdiction — Supreme Court Review of State Court Decisions A party who sets up a federal statute as conferring immunity from a judgment, and whose claim of federal right is denied by the decision of a state court, may obtain review in the Supreme Court under the statute governing review of state court judgments. 231 U.S. at 230
  2. Antitrust & Competition Law — Copyright Protection as Defense to Sherman Act The copyright act, no more than the patent statute, was not intended to authorize agreements in unlawful restraint of trade and tending to monopoly in violation of the Sherman Act; the Sherman Act is broadly designed to reach all combinations in unlawful restraint of trade and tending, by reason of the agreements or combinations entered into, to build up and perpetuate monopolies, and it operates as a limitation upon rights which may be pushed to evil consequences and may therefore be restrained. 231 U.S. at 236
  3. Antitrust & Competition Law — Agreements Affecting Interstate Commerce An agreement among associations comprising a substantial majority of the nation's publishers and booksellers, obligating members to sell copyrighted books only to dealers maintaining stipulated retail prices, enforced by cut-off lists and warnings circulated against so-called price-cutters, prohibited condemned parties from selling books of any kind, affected interstate commerce, and was manifestly illegal under the Sherman Act. 231 U.S. at 237
  4. Antitrust & Competition Law — Copyright Protection as Defense to Sherman Act The Court of Appeals erred in holding that such an agreement was justified by the copyright act and was not within the denunciation of the Sherman Act, and in denying relief for that reason alone as to copyrighted books; where the federal question was wrongly decided and that decision was the basis of the judgment in the state court, the judgment must be reversed. 231 U.S. at 238
  5. Antitrust & Competition Law — Jurisdiction of State Courts Whether an original action seeking an injunction and damages under the Sherman Act can be maintained in the state courts is left undecided. 231 U.S. at 238