Brief Fact Summary. Playwright and copyright-infringing movie studio disputed the amount of movie profits that the playwright should be awarded. Playwright and copyright-infringing movie studio disputed the amount of movie profits that the playwright should be awarded.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. There is no basis to award someone who has had his copyright infringed upon any amount of profits made by the infringer above that which cannot be attributed to the infringement itself.
Where there is a commingling of gains, he must abide the consequences, unless he can make a separation of the profits so as to assure to the injured party all that justly belongs to him.
View Full Point of LawIssue. In the apportionment of an award of profits for copyright infringement, may the apportionment be prorated to give the author only the part of the profits attributable to the use of the infringed material?
Held. (Hughes, C.J.) Yes. In the apportionment of an award of profits for copyright infringement, may the apportionment be prorated to give the author only the part of the profits attributable to the use of the infringed material. The purpose of awarding profits to Sheldon (Plaintiff), whose work has been infringed upon, is just compensation for the violation by Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp. (Defendant). An award such as this is not intended to impose a penalty on Defendant by giving Plaintiff profits “which are not attributable to the infringement,†but to prevent Defendant from unjust enrichment. There is nothing in either the Copyright Act of 1909 or in subsequent case law that would allow a court to award profits for which there has been no showing of being due to the infringement itself.
Discussion. It would be unfair to let Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp. (Defendant) profit at the expense of Sheldon’s (Plaintiff) work. However, it would be just as unfair to let Plaintiff reap a profit from certain parts of the “Letty Lynton†movie, since those parts were not based on Plaintiff’s play. The Court, therefore, sought to protect each of the two entities’ “original†portions of their respective work.