Evan Hunter - The Paper Dragon

"Now, your Honor, I could easily stress the legal argument, I could easily repeat that even if Mr. Driscoll had taken this material he is alleged to have copied, why none of it is copyrightable, the only thing a man may copyright is his manner of expression. And were I to stress the legal argument, and were I to win on that point alone, this would undoubtedly be a victory for Mitchell-Campbell and for Camelot Books, but what about this man James Driscoll? What about this man whose career lies ahead of him, who has written a brilliant first novel, this man who, in Chester Danton's words, 'will go on writing many more excellent books'? What about James Driscoll? Your Honor, we have been asked to believe, for example, that the use of the word 'Loot' when addressing a lieutenant in the United States Army is indicative of copying by this man, James Driscoll. Well, your Honor, I think that this sort of specious reasoning is indicative only of the groundless claim we have before us. We have cited, in our brief, one of Judge Hand's opinions in which he describes an obsessive sort of paranoia that attacks some authors, and I think we have exactly that syndrome here. Catchpole was a totally unsuccessful play on a theme which was later successfully explored by James Driscoll in The Paper Dragon . It is not difficult to understand how Mr. Constantine, unable to accept the failure of his work, attributed the success of Mr. Driscoll's work to copying. We have this throughout, your Honor. We have Mr. Constantine testifying, for example, that the use of obscenity is common in the armed forces, and then insisting nonetheless that the soldier in his play is a unique creation who must have been stolen by Mr. Driscoll. My friend Mr. Brackman looks troubled, so if your Honor wishes, I'll find the exact place in the transcript… "

"I'm not troubled, Mr. Willow. I'm merely very interested in what you're saying."

"Very what?" McIntyre asked.

"Interested, your Honor."

"Well, you looked extremely troubled there for a moment," Willow said. "I'll be happy to find the testimony if…"

"He doesn't look at all troubled to me, Mr. Willow," McIntyre said, "but I would like the exact page in the transcript if you have it."

Willow accepted the transcript from his assistant, leafed through it, and said, "It's on page 89, your Honor. This is Mr. Constantine's testimony. 'Question: Do you think they were rarities? Answer: No. Question: They were commonplace? Answer: They were to be found everywhere in the Army.' " Willow looked up from the transcript and said, "You understand, your Honor, that these questions and answers are referring to men using obscene language."

"Yes, I understand that."

"And later, on page 92, I asked Mr. Constantine. 'Yet you still maintain that your character's use of obscenity is unique?' and he replied, 'It is unique, yes.' That's an indication of what we're being asked to accept in this courtroom, your Honor. These clear admissions that the so-called similarities between the two works are really based on common material, and then the stubborn insistence that one work was nonetheless copied from the other. Well, your Honor, that soldier is not unique, and we know he is not unique. We know, in fact, that a soldier such as this is undoubtedly a commonplace, and it would be very easy to find against the plaintiff on the grounds that the material he claims was copied is not copyrightable material. That would be perfectly reasonable finding, your Honor, except that it would leave a stain on Mr. Driscoll's character, it would leave a stigma on his career. Such a finding would indicate that he did copy from another man, but only material that was in the public domain. And that would be a terrible injustice, your Honor. I ask you, therefore, to consider this in your decision, because I believe with all my heart that James Driscoll has done nothing to warrant this charge of plagiarism. James Driscoll is an artist, your Honor, who wrote a fine book in his own manner and using his own resources. For this, your Honor, we owe him only respect and gratitude."

The courtroom was silent. In the silence, Driscoll looked at Willow, and again knew without doubt that the lawyer had been mouthing words he did not believe. Willow returned the look, and then walked slowly back toward the defense table. Genitori, dressed in his customary pinstriped suit, had already risen, prepared text in hand, and was walking toward the bench. He smiled briefly at no one, cleared his throat, and said, "If your Honor please, concerning the first cause of action against Artists-Producers-International, I can say nothing that Mr. Willow has not already said, and I ask that his argument be adopted as my own. With respect to the cause of action claiming independent infringement, however, I would like to call your Honor's attention to page 127 of the transcript, where I moved for dismissal and assumed arguendo…"

Driscoll stopped listening. He was disturbed by what he had detected in Willow's manner, but Ebie's sudden agitation concerned him even more. He knew that she too had sensed the hollowness of Willow's praise — there had never been a time when they both did not react identically and simultaneously to any given stimulus — and he was now troubled to see her fingers working nervously on her handbag, fastening and unfastening — the clasp, a small deadly click punctuating Genitori's words, "spend this Court's time in repeating it now," click, "later called Ralph Knowles to the stand," click, "respected and honored director," click, "inconceivable to imagine he had the slightest need for copying any of the plaintiff's paltry work," click.

He did not know what Ebie would do, or even what she could do now that the case was officially closed and the arguments begun. He knew only that she was unpredictable, had always been unpredictable, and that she had openly threatened him only the night before. He knew, moreover, and this was what troubled him most, that she was the kind of woman who moved swiftly and directly once she had decided on a course of action. He had learned that in 1950, had learned it once and for all time, and he watched her nervous hands now as they worked the clasp, knowing that her mind was churning with possibilities, listening to each small click with rising anticipaton, "… the defendant API quite properly replied, Yes, Mr. Edelson and Miss Blake had indeed worked as story editors on those dates," click, "but for the studio , you understand," click, "and not in connection with The Paper Dragon , which possibility Mr. Knowles put to rout forever when he testified in simple, forceful English that neither Mr. Edelson nor Miss Blake had anything whatever to do with the production of his movie," click.

Genitori nodded, and then consulted his text once again, and then said to McIntyre, "I therefore ask you to find, your Honor, that Mr. Ralph Knowles did not see or read the play Catchpole before writing his movie, that the motion picture The Paper Dragon was written and produced independently of that play, and that the claim against Artists-Producers-International should be dismissed. Thank you, your Honor."

Sidney Brackman took a long while getting up from his chair and then moving past Constantine and around the plaintiff's table and into the aisle, where he walked slowly to the front of the courtroom. He turned to look first at Willow, and then at Genitori, and then he looked up at McIntyre and said, "Your Honor, I have been practicing law for twenty-two years now, but there's always something new to learn, I guess. Mr. Willow pointed out to me today, just a few minutes ago, that it was my duty as a lawyer to prevent a witness from giving testimony while he was on the stand under oath. Mr. Willow seems to feel that I permitted testimony which was at best questionable, but I would like to say that Mr. Constantine was never asked about preview performances at any time during the pretrial examinations. I can assure Mr. Willow that had the question been asked, it would have been answered honestly, the same way Mr. Constantine has answered every question put to him since this suit began. If Mr. Willow did not think to ask about any performances other than those on Broadway, I do not see why his oversight should then become a reflection on my integrity."