New York Court of Appeals
Estate of Ernest Hemingway v. Random House, Inc.
December 12, 196823 N.Y.2d 341
Summary
The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the lower courts' dismissal of all four causes of action brought by the Hemingway estate and widow. It held that Hemingway's oral conversations are not subject to common-law copyright, that no unfair competition existed, that no enforceable confidential relationship covered the quoted material, and that the privacy claim under Civil Rights Law § 51 fails. The court also noted the First Amendment considerations and declined to create a new common-law copyright rule for speech.