Page:Federal Cases, Volume 15.djvu/34

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LAWRENCE (Case No. 8,136) [15 Fed. Cas. page 30] sible down to the time of publication; that the representatives of the deceased author should give up all claim on the said Broek- haiis in respect to the editions published and to be published; and that in considera- tion thereof the said Broekhaiis agreed to pay to the said Catharine, if the complain- ant so directed, the sum of 6,000 francs, to- gether with the sum of $450, to be paid to the complainant to defray in part the ex- penses to be incurred in preparing the trans- lations; that the complainant, before the agreement was completed, stated to the said <:!atharine or her agent, Martha B. Wheaton, that he would do no more work on any book over which he did not possess exclusive con- trol; that he would only undertake the work required of him in the proposed ar- rangement, on the condition that the entire <;opy right should be assigned to him; that the said Catharine, manifesting a great de- sire to retain the le^al title to the copyrights of the book, requested him to confer with Professor Parsons in her behalf, in order that some arrangement might be made which should substantially secure to the complain- ant what he desired, and be at the same time acceptable to the said Catharine; and the complainant alleged that he assented to that proposition, that he had one or more interviews with Mr. Parsons, and made an agreement with him as to the title to the copyrights and other matters, as expressed in the memoradum set forth in the bill of complaint, as follows:— "Memorandum: Mr. Lawrence will write to Mr. Broekhaiis in terms to bring to Mrs. Wheaton the right to draw on Mr. Broekhaiis at once for 6,000 francs. He will also endeavor to get from Mr. Broekhaiis as much as he can towards the actual expense of having the translation into French made here, and so much of that ex- pense as he fails to get from Broekhaiis, Mrs. Wheaton will pay from the proceeds of the ■draft on Broekhaiis. Mrs. Wheaton will, on the payment of her draft on Broekhaiis, agree formally to make no use of Mr. Lawrence's notes in a new edition without his written con- sent, and Mrs. Wheaton will give to Mr. Law- rence the right to make any use he wishes to of his own notes;" that the said Parsons, for the pui-pose of being more certain that the memorandum would be approved by the said Catharine, wrote on the same sheet of paper to the respondent, Martha B. Wheaton, that he and the complainant had come to a perfectly amicable result, as expressed gen- erally in the memorandum, and suggested to her that she should make a copy of the same for herself, if the result was satis- factory; and the complainantalso alleged that the said Martha afterwards, in behalf of her mother and herself, and to signify their approval of the result, signed the said mem- orandum, and wrote the date, "June 14, 1863," thereon, and caused the same to be delivered to the complainant. Additions were subsequently made to the I agreement, and the terms of it were in some respects varied, as appeared by the corre- spondence between the parties; but the com- plainant alleged that he was advised and believed that the amendments to the same did not vary any such parts of the same as related to the copyrights in this country; and he also alleged that the consideration of the agi-eement of the said Broekhaiis to pay said amount to the said Catharine was the promise of the complainant to furnish new and additional notes for the future edi- tions of the work, as was well known and understood by the pax-ties; that he, the com- plainant wrote to said Broekhaiis, as agreed; that the letter was approved by the other parties, and was by the said ilartha and Catharine sent to the said Broekhaiis, and that the said Catharine, on the 17th of June, 1863, drew a bill of exchange on him for the amount specified in the memorandum; and that the same, in consequence of said letter and of the promises and imdertak- ings of the complainant, was duly honored and paid. The theory of the complainant was, and he accordingly alleged, that there was not, on the 1st of January, 1865, any valid sub- sisting copyrights of the editions published respectively in 1836 and 1846; that the copy- rights of the editions published in 1855 and 1863 secxn-ed the exclusive right to the same only so far as those editions differed from the aforesaid antecedent editions; that it was a part of the agreement made through the agency of the said Parsons, that the said Catharine should execute and deliver to the complainant a formal instrument, se- curing to him all his rights in the prem- ises, of such a natm'e as to admit of being recorded, as required by the acts of con- gress relating to copyrights; and he averred that the other respondents had full notice and knowledge of the agi-eement, and that he, in a court of equity, by virtue of that agreement, is taken and deemed to be the owner and proprietor of the last-mentioned copj^ights, in and as to all matters con- tributed by him as aforesaid; and that, by reason thereof, the respondents were bound not to make any use of any such matters so contributed by him to either of the said edi- tions of the said work. Based upon these and other allegations, the claim of the complainant was, that he was in equity the exclusive owner and proprietor of the copyrights for all the matters which he contributed to those two editions; and he charged that the said fli-m of Little, Brown, & Company procured and induced the said Martha, in her own behalf and that of her mother, to consent and agree that the said publishing firm of Little, Brown, & Company should publish an edition of that work, and procure the same to be edited and notes to be prepared for the same by some person other than the complainant; that thereupon the said firm procured and em-