Mifflin v. Dutton

Background

An author, Mrs. Stowe, published a novel in parts. The first twenty-nine chapters appeared in a magazine before she or her publisher took any steps to secure a copyright. The last thirteen chapters later appeared in the magazine’s November and December issues without a printed notice of the author’s copyright. The magazine’s publisher, Ticknor & Fields, also held a copyright in the magazine, but the Court had already said that that copyright did not count as notice of the author’s separate rights.

Reasoning

The question was whether the author kept a statutory copyright after portions of her book were printed in the magazine without the required notice. The Court explained the law required a printed notice in every copy of each edition to preserve an author’s statutory copyright. Because the early chapters were published before any copyright steps were taken, they became public property. The later chapters were also published without the author’s notice, so under the statute those rights were lost as well. The Court described the right as purely statutory and said the statute’s form and substance must be followed. For those reasons, the Court affirmed the lower court’s decree denying the claimed copyright.

Real world impact

This decision makes clear that authors and publishers must put a printed copyright notice in each edition or risk losing rights. Works printed in magazines without that notice may enter the public domain and be reused by others. The ruling enforces the strict notice requirement set by the statute.