Warner Brothers Pictures v. Columbia Broadcasting System Case Brief Summary | Law Case Explained

Warner Brothers Pictures v. Columbia Broadcasting System | 216 F.2d 945 (1954)

In Nichols versus Universal Pictures, Judge Learned Hand outlined the character-delineation test for determining when a literary character might be sufficiently well defined to merit copyright protection. In Warner Brothers versus Columbia Broadcasting, also known as the Sam Spade case, the Ninth Circuit came up with a different approach to the question.

Dashiell Hammett serially published a mystery story called “The Maltese Falcon,” featuring detective Sam Spade. Alfred A. Knopf published the story as a book and copyrighted it.

In 1930, Knopf and Hammett sold the movie, television, and radio rights to Warner Brothers in a document entitled Assignment of Copyright.

Hammett continued to write stories with the characters from “The Maltese Falcon,” including Sam Spade. He also granted Columbia Broadcasting System the right to use Sam Spade and other characters in radio, television, and film productions. Columbia produced a radio show called Adventures of Sam Spade, broadcast weekly between 1946 and 1950.

Warner sued Hammett and Columbia, alleging copyright infringement. It argued that Warner had the exclusive right to use any content from “The Maltese Falcon,” including individual characters and their names, in any motion picture, television, or radio application.

Hammett countered that Warner only owned the rights specifically mentioned in the granting instrument, and that didn’t include the characters or their names. Accordingly, Hammett could use those characters in other stories.

The district court found for Hammett. Warner appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

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