Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1180196
23 THE CAPITOL DOME the Cranston edition. Noram refused. On 26 April 1939, Houghton Miffl in fi led a complaint against Noram Pub- lishing Company, Caslon Publication Service, Inc., and Interborough News Company. A copyright infringement lawsuit was fi led in the Southern District U.S. Court of New York. 9 In Houghton Miffl in Company v Noram Publishing Company, Houghton Miffl in contended that the Noram edition competed with the Reynal & Hitchcock version (with which it had entered into an agreement to publish a full translation of Mein Kampf ) and would diminish the value of its edition. The law fi rm of Hines, Rearick, Dorr & Hammond represented Houghton Miffl in. Hoguet, Neary & Campbell, Esq. represented the defendants, Noram Publishing Company, Inc., Caslon Publication Service, Inc., and Interborough News Company. On 14 July 1939, U.S. District Judge Edward Con- ger ordered a preliminary injunction against Noram. The judge cited the Cranston-translated edition's "Publisher's Foreword" as suffi cient evidence on which to base his ruling. In issuing the preliminary injunction, Judge Edward Conger wrote, in part: I am satisfi ed that a temporary injunction should issue. I am not unmindful of the cases cited in defendant's brief, that the court should be chary about issuing a temporary injunction; that, in effect, it amounts to an adjudication before trial and that in many cases, irreparable harm may come to a defendant, with no appre- ciable benefi t to a plaintiff by such injunction. However, it seems to me in this case, all of the facts warrant an injunction. I am satisfi ed that the issuance and sale of defendant's edition is real competition to plaintiff's copyrighted book.… It appears to me that the defendant, Noram Publishing Co., knowing, or at least suspecting, the claimed copyright of the plain- tiff to the book "Mein Kampf," attempted to take advantage of the public interest in Hitler and devised this form of pamphlet or edition, to profi t by the desire of the public to read about Hitler. 10 Conger enjoined Noram Publishing Company, Inc., Caslon Publication Service Inc., Interborough News Company, and the offi cers of Noram Publishing from "directly or indirectly publishing, printing, reprinting, translating, copying, distributing, vending or offering for sale a certain copyrighted work entitled 'Mein Kampf' by Adolf Hitler, or part of said work, and from in anywise infringing the rights on said work" pending resolution of the lawsuit. Noram's attorneys based their defense on techni- calities. They argued that Hitler's Mein Kampf was in the public domain because Hitler was a stateless person when he wrote it. First, Hitler was no longer an Austrian citizen when he served in the German army during WWI and did not become a German citizen until 1932. Second, Hitler's copyright on Mein Kampf was registered in Austria and since Hitler's German army had subsumed Austria into the German state, the copyright no longer existed. Only 49 days after the preliminary injunction was ordered, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939—the catalyst for Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand to declare war on Germany two days later. Two days after the outbreak of war, the United States proclaimed its neutrality. After the fall of Poland and sev- eral months' pause in warfare until 9 April 1940, Germa- ny's offensive resumed with its invasion of Denmark and Norway. Facing the formidable, well-trained, well-pre- For half a century, Alan Cranston kept in his wallet the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu's ideal of a good leader: A leader is best When people barely know That he exists, Less good when They obey and acclaim him, Worse when They fear and despise him. Fail to honor people And they fail to honor you. But of a good leader, When his work is done, His aim fulfi lled, They will all say, "We did this ourselves."