John A. Belcher, Etc. v. Irving Tarbox, John A. Belcher, Etc., Plaintiff-Cross v. Irving Tarbox, Defendant-Cross

Plaintiff and defendant are engaged in the business of publishing handicapping systems for betting on horse races. Plaintiff issues his formulations separately; defendant periodically issues a magazine or book containing reprints of a number of such formulations. Six of plaintiff’s were so reprinted, and plaintiff brought this action for infringement of his copyrights, trademarks and trade names. The court below, as to five of the six, found the copyrights valid and infringed and awarded plaintiff injunctive relief and damages. We" affirm this portion of the judgment. The sixth is discussed subsequently.

Defendant’s primary contention is that the works were not entitled to copyright protection since they, and the advertising material associated with them, fraudulently represented to the public that users of the system described could beat the horses; that the author had in fact done so successfully; and that, as to some of the systems, they had been developed by professional mathemati cians or with the aid of computer equipment, and payments or awards had been made for them in excess of those shown by the facts. The evidence, on the contrary, indicated that handicapping systems,…