Fishler

The Complaint pleads two causes of action. Each is an alternate way of stating the same claim. Plaintiffs contend that they are the authors of a play based on the life of Queen Elizabeth and entitled “Virgin Queen”. They contend that because of the widespread distribution of their play among the trade, that the title “Virgin Queen” has acquired secondary meaning, to wit, that among writers, producers, actors, and others associated with the motion picture and theatrical producing, exhibiting and viewing fields, there was a secondary meaning to the words “virgin queen”, that secondary meaning being that it was the title of the play or story written by plaintiffs. The gist of each cause of action is that the use of said title in the motion picture industry by defendant was in derogation of plaintiffs’ property rights therein. Plaintiffs claimed that their authorship was completed on the 5th of April, 1953, and that on the 23rd of April, 1953, a letter was sent to all the major motion picture studios including that of defendant informing the studios that the plaintiffs have written a play entitled “Virgin Queen”. Plaintiffs’ play was never performed and has not been the subject of…