Caliga v. Inter Ocean Newspaper Co., 215 U.S. 182 (1909)

Caliga v. Inter Ocean Newspaper Company

No. 22

Argued November 5, 1909
Decided November 29, 1909
215 U.S. 182

ERROR TO THE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT

OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

Statutory copyright is not to be confounded with the exclusive property of the author in his manuscript at common law.

In enacting the copyright statute, Congress did not sanction an existing right, but created a new one dependent on compliance with the statute. Under existing copyright law of the United States, there is no provision for filing amendments to the first application, and, the matter being wholly subject to statutory regulation, copyright on a second application cannot be sustained. The statutory limit of copyright cannot be extended by new applications.

157 F. 186 affirmed.

The facts are stated in the opinion.