Walter V. Lane case is a landmark judgement that deals with the concept of originality of a copyright. The House of Lords decided the case upon the Authorship under Copyright Act 1842 and implemented the sweat of the brow doctrine.
FACTS OF THE CASE :
The reporters of Times Newspaper took down notes of speeches given by the Earl of Rosebery and proceeded to publish them by adding suitable punctuations and revisions and we’re published in Times.
The respondent John Lane published a book named Appreciations and Addresses, Delivered by Lord Rosebery by allegedly including the excerpts from the Times Report.
The question before the court was if the reporters could be considered authors with respect to copyrights.
JUDGEMENT :
The House of Lords held that the reporters indeed were authors under the Copyrights Act 1842. The effort, time and skill spent by them into making the article could be considered as original.
The concept of “originality” was not included in the Copyright Act 1842 (the word “original” did not appear until the Copyright Act 1911), but the Walter v. Lane ruling would later be used as precedent for the concept of “originality” in English copyright law.
JUDGEMENT REVIEW BY SREYA MARY.
