There is, therefore, something to be said for the defendants' argument that this court, as a court of equity, should refuse relief to this plaintiff because the copyrights it seeks to protect are to be used in the carrying out of restraint of trade, in direct opposition to our governmental policy as expressed in the Sherman and Clayton Acts. Copyright laws do not grant to copyright owners the privilege of combining in violation of otherwise valid state of federal laws.
Obviously this is an agreement in restraint of trade. The difficulty is that it involved also the pirating of the work of the engraver and cannot, therefore, be considered a "fair use". It is obvious, however, that it was done for advertising purposes and no other purpose.Ĭoncededly the defendants used proofs taken from the plaintiff's plates and sold by the plaintiff, carrying notice of plaintiff's copyright, as the subjects of their colored photoengravings. The plaintiff printed small half-tone reproductions of the mezzotint engravings in its catalogue without carrying upon these half-tones any notice of copyright. He is trying to express in another medium what the original artist expressed in oils on canvas. The color is applied to the plate by hand before each print or proof is drawn from the plate.Įxamination of the three "Blue Boy's" and the two "Chateau Renaud's" reveals a distinctive difference, most noticeable in the facial expressions. The final product is a print in color called in the trade a proof.
It is a tedious process requiring skill and patience and is, therefore, rather expensive compared with modern color photographic processes. The mezzotint method lends itself to a fairly realistic reproduction of oil paintings. The defendants, a color lithographer, a dealer in lithographs and the dealer's president, produced and sold color lithographs of the eight mezzotints. The plaintiff, a British print producer and dealer, member of the Fine Arts Trade Guild, copyrighted in the United States eight mezzotint engravings of old masters produced at its order by three mezzotint engravers.
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