Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus

Background

A book publisher owned the copyright to a novel and printed a notice in each copy saying the retail price must be one dollar and that sales below that price would be treated as copyright infringement. A large retail bookseller bought copies through wholesale channels and sold them for eighty-nine cents. The publisher sued to stop the lower-price sales. Lower federal courts dismissed the publisher’s suit, and the appeals court affirmed that dismissal.

Reasoning

The Court considered whether the copyright statutes’ grant of the “sole right of vending” lets a copyright owner, by a notice inside sold copies, restrict how later buyers resell those copies. The Court explained that copyright grants are statutory and mainly protect the right to multiply and publish works, not to control every later sale. Because the wholesales were made without any contract reserving resale control, the Court would not read the statute to impose a binding retail-price restriction by notice alone. The Court distinguished patent cases and emphasized this is a question of statutory construction under the copyright law.

Real world impact

The decision means a publisher cannot stop a purchaser from reselling a legitimately bought book at a lower price just because the book contains a printed price notice and no resale contract exists. Retailers and consumers may continue to buy and resell lawfully purchased copies at discount prices. If a publisher wants to restrict resale price, it must rely on contracts or licensing arrangements, not a unilateral notice printed in each copy.