Baily v Taylor
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 11 December 1829 |
| Date | 11 December 1829 |
| Court | High Court of Chancery |
English Reports Citation: 39 E.R. 28
HIGH COURT OF CHANCERY
S. C. Tamlyn, 295; 8 L. J. Ch. (O. S.) 49.
[73] baily v. taylor, liolh. dm. 10, 11, 1829. [S. C. Tamlyn, 295 ; 8 L. J. Ch. (O. S.) 49.] A Plaintiff who complains of a piracy of his work has no remedy in equity, unless he establish a title to an injunction; and then the account will follow. The Court will not grant an injunction, but will leave the Plaintiff to seek his legal remedy where the matter, which is the subject of the alleged piracy, forms but a very inconsiderable part of the Plaintiff's work, and contains merely calculations, and when the work complained of has been published some years. 1 RUSS. & M. 74. BAILY V. TAYLOR 29 In 1824, the Plaintiff filed his hill for an injunction to restrain the Defendant from publishing the second and third editions of a work, in which he had copied thirteen tables of calculations as to the value of leases and annuities, which had been published by the Plaintiff in three works-one printed in 1802, another in 1808, and the third in 1810 : and the bill also prayed an account. The first edition of the Defendant's work was published in 1811 ; and the Plaintiff admitted that he had licensed that edition, on condition that the Defendant acknowledged in his preface that he had copied some of his tables from the Plaintiffs works. The Defendant published a second edition in 1820, and a third edition in 1823. In December 1824, soon after the filing of the hill, the Plaintiff' moved before the-Master of the Rolls, who was then Vice-Chancellor, for an injunction to restrain the publication of the Defendant's work. The motion was refused, upon the ground that the tables, complained of as pirated, formed a very inconsiderable part of the Plaintiff's work, and could he calculated hy any competent person in a few hours ; and also on the ground of the length of time which had elapsed since the publication of the second edition of the Defendant's book. Notwithstanding the refusal of the injunction, the Plaintiff proceeded with his. cause, and brought it on to a hearing. S T4] The Defendant proved that the successive editions of his book had been arly and openly advertised and sold; and an actuary, who was examined on his belhalf, stated that, in his judgment, 7, 19s. would be a fair and reasonable charge for re-calculating and furnishing in manuscript the tables which had been borrowed from the Plaintiff's works. A. fourth edition of the Defendant's book had been published in 1825, and a fifth in 1828. Mr. Bickersteth and Mr. West, for the Plaintiff'. Mr. Fonblanque and Mr. Wakefiekl, amtra. On the opening of the cause, the master of the rolls [Sir John Leach] desired the counsel of the Plaintiff to consider whether, if they failed in shewing that they were entitled to an injunction, the Court could make any decree, except for the dismissal of the bill; and the hearing stood over, in order that they might look into-authorities on that point. When the cause came on again, the counsel for the Plaintiff contended that, as there had been a piracy of a part of the Plaintiff's work, he was entitled to protection for the future, and that the amount of the past injury ought to be ascertained, either by a reference to the Master, or by directing an issue. The Defendant had made profit hy publishing that which was in truth the property of the Plaintiff, and to an account of these profits the Plaintiff was entitled for, without an account, there would be no means of assessing accurately his damages at law. [75] On the other hand, it was insisted, on behalf of the Defendant, that the grounds on which the Court had refused the motion for the injunction were equally valid against awarding an injunction by the decree. These grounds were, the length of time during which the Plaintiff had acquiesced in the alleged piracy ; the very small proportion, which the tables said to be pirated bore to the whole mass of the Plaintiff's and Defendant's respective books; and the facility with which the Defendant might acquire a title to the tables which were the subject of complaint. If the Plaintiff had sustained any injury, he might seek compensation by an action at law; if he thought that an account of the proceeds of the sale of the Defendant's work would be necessary or useful in that action, he might file a bill for a discovery ; but where he failed in establishing his right to equitable protection by means of an injunction, why should the jurisdiction, in a matter which related merely to the invasion of a legal right, be transferred from a court of law to a court of equity 1 The following cases were cited:-Dodidi'y v. Kinni'rsl-ey (Amb. 403), BarfiM v. Nicholson (2 Sim. & Stu. 1), Jmtti'iujham \. JFonler (2 Swans. 428), MamiKtn v. Teyg (2 Russ. 385), Can/ v. Kmrshi/ (4 Esp. 168). the master of the rolls [Sir John Leach]. This Court has no jurisdiction to give to a Plaintiff a remedy for an alleged piracy, unless he can make out that he is entitled to the equitable interposition of this Court by injunction; and in such case, the Court will also give him an account, that his remedy here may lie complete. If this Court do not interfere by injunction, then his remedy, as in the case of any other injury to his property, must be at law. 30 BROWN I". BROWN 1 RUBS, te M. 76. [76] I agree that, although the Plaintiff failed, upon the answer of the Defendant, to obtain an injunction, he is at liberty to claim it at the hearing. The question then is, Whether the Court ought to grant an injunction as the case now appears...
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