Wheaton v. Peters
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| Wheaton v. Peters | |
| Court | Supreme Court of the United States |
|---|---|
| Citation | |
| Date decided | March 19, 1834 |
Facts
Wheaton, the 3rd reporter of decisions for SCOTUS, sued his successor Peters for copyright infringement.
Wheaton had spent massive time and energy on compiling and annotating SCOTUS decisions. After his retirement, Peters gained access to the Wheaton SCOTUS reports, abridged them, and sold them for a profit for himself (Peters).
In the 1830s, no one had Internet access and having access to such annotated summaries of SCOTUS decisions would be highly valuable.Holding
Wheaton had not been granted copyright from the federal government.
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