Donoghue v. Allied Newspapers, Ltd. (1937) 3 Ch. D.

503
FARWELL, J. - The plaintiff, Mr. Stephen Donoghue, is a very well known jockey,
whose name, I think one may say, is of value in the newspaper world, and whose
reminiscences or adventures may be of value, apart from any literary merit, or
anything of that kind, owing to the fact that they are the adventures of a person
well known to the public. The plaintiff claims an injunction to restrain the
defendant company from printing, publishing, selling, or otherwise circulating
certain articles, and for damages for infringement of copyright. The defendant
company seeks to resist that claim upon three grounds: (i) that Mr. Donoghue
was not and is not either the sole or the joint owner of the copyright in the
articles in question; (ii) that, under and by virtue of an agreement, the copyright,
if it was in Mr. Donoghue at all, was assigned by an equitable assignment to the
proprietors of the News of the World, and therefore is no longer in Mr. Donoghue;
and (iii) that, if there was any copyright in Mr. Donoghue, in fact he consented to
the publication, although he sought afterwards to recede from that position. In
1931, the persons responsible for the Sunday paper, the News of the World, were
minded to publish in their paper a series of articles entitled Steve Donoghues
Racing Secrets, and for that purpose they employed a Mr. Felstead to act on
their behalf. Mr. Felstead was described in the witness-box as a free-lance
journalist, and he is a person who has considerable experience and knowledge of
racing matters. He apparently knew Mr. Donoghue, and he got into touch with
him, and the result of it was that, on Apr. 4, 1931, the plaintiff entered into a
contract with the News of the World, in these terms: I agree to supply the
proprietors of the News of