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Samuelson v Producers Distributing Co, 1931, 48 RPC 580, EWCA

Samuelson v Producers Distributing Co, 1931, 48 RPC 580, EWCA


Citation:Samuelson v Producers Distributing Co, 1931, 48 RPC 580, EWCA

Link to case on WorldLII (Reference).

Rule of thumb:

What happens if many people have contributed towards a piece of literature or a song? Who is the owner? Where many people have contributed towards copyright only one person can be deemed to be the author, with this having to be selected and the contribution of others being deemed to be ‘abstract’. The law does not ‘apportion’ contributions to copyright and instead seeks to pin-point the main author of a piece of literature.

Judgment:, ‘... it is not a question which can be determined by counting... has to be regarded as a matter of substance’, Romero LJ, 593

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Ratio-decidendi:

Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.