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A Dangerous Undertaking Indeed: Juvenile Humor, Raunchy Jokes, Obscene Materials And Bad Taste In Copyright, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

Some of the most important statements in our nation’s rich copyright jurisprudence were written by Justice Holmes over a century ago in Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co.,a case holding that circus posters were entitled to copyright protection.

In Bleistein, Justice Holmes stated that “[i]t would be a dangerous undertaking for persons trained only to the law to constitute themselves final judges of the worth of [writings, illustrations, music and other forms of expression] outside of the narrowest and most obvious limits.” This announced what has been called the principle of “aesthetic non-discrimination.

“Pull My Finger Fred,” and many other …