Event

Mark Rose, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will give a presentation entitled "Drama in the Courtroom: Nichols v. Universal."

We will meet at 5:15 in the Martin and Margy Meyerson Conference Center, which is located on the second floor of Van Pelt Library, diagonally across from the elevator bank.

Mark Rose writes:

Nichols v. Universal (1930), decided by the great judge Learned Hand, is a classic legal case that still serves as a precedent and guide in matters involving allegations of copyright infringement. In it the playwright Anne Nichols sued Universal Pictures claiming that the movie “The Cohens and the Kellys” was an infringement of her Broadway play, Abie’s Irish Rose. In this talk, drawn from Authors in Court, a book in progress, I will focus on the role of expert witnesses in the case – curiously, Nichols’ lawyer, Moses L. Malevinsky, also served as her expert – and with the way the case turned, finally, on acts of literary criticism.

Mark Rose is Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of essays and books on Shakespeare, Renaissance poetry, and science fiction as well as a study of the early history of copyright, Authors and Owners.  He frequently serves as a literary expert in legal matters involving allegations of copyright infringement.