Bleeker

After trial on the merits to the Court, the case was submitted for decision.

Plaintiff is the owner of 55 copyrighted musical compositions, the “right hand melody” of the title and chorus of each of which, and in some cases the entire lyrics and music, were printed in a book entitled “1,000 Favorite Standard Songs, Vol. 1.”

Plaintiff did not authorize the reproduction in the book of any of the songs to which it owned the copyright, and no copyright notice was contained either in the book or any of the pages.

In the trade, the book is commonly called a “fake” book, which means that if a musician does not have the exact musical score before him, he plays the melody by memory and fakes the harmony.

Defendant is primarily engaged in the sale of musical instruments, but about one-half of one per cent of his total sales is from musical compositions.

On June 13, 1962, defendant sold one of said books to an agent of plaintiff for $25.00 plus $1.00 tax. This suit followed on March 1, 1963, seeking so-called “statutory” damages of $250.00 for each of only 12 of the 55 copyrighted numbers contained in the book sold to plaintiff's agent.

' The plaintiff, in addition to damages, seeks an…