—"every new and innocent product of mental labor, which has been embodied in writing, or some other material form, while it remains unpublished, is the exclusive property of its author, entitled to the same protection which the law throws around the enjoyment and possession of other kinds of property."

A dramatic work, even though composed of selections from literary compositions which are public property, may possess such originality in its construction, or be so unique in its dramatic effect, as to be the proper subject of protected ownership.

"The right to literary property is just as sacred, and just as much entitled to the protection of the law, as the right to any other kind of personal property. Its acquisition and succession are governed by the same legal rules which control the acquisition and succession of other property of the same general class, and, if the rights of its owner are violated, he is entitled to the …

New Jersey extends its common law copyright protection to "literary, dramatic or musical compositions, or designs for works of ornament or utility, planned by the mind of an artist***."

We located a single case, decided by the New Jersey Chancery Court in 1888, that actually found a work was partially abandoned.

"Where the intent of the owner is to give the public merely a right to a limited use of his literary property or to use it in a particular way, the owner's act does not constitute an abandonment of all his property; but the public acquires a right to use it only to the extent of the dedication

"The rule which I think should be adopted may be stated as follows: that the owner of a dramatic or musical composition may, like the owner of any other kind of property, do with his own as he pleases; he may retain it for his own use and benefit, or he may give it to the public out and out, or he may make a limited or partial dedication

Whether the product of such labor consists in literary, dramatic or musical compositions, or designs for works of ornament or utility, planned by the mind of an artist, they are equally inviolable while they remain unpublished, and their owner may exercise the same supreme dominion over them that the owner of any other species of property may exercise over it

Neither the briefs of counsel nor our independent research has provided us with decided cases or textual discussion of sufficient analogy to be employed as precise precedents or authority for decision of the issue before us.[2] In general, it may be said that property rights may exist in copyrighted material (such as literary and musical compositions), architectural designs …

This question is an open one in this state; it never before having been presented for judicial consideration in this state

[BOOK] Owning ideas: The intellectual origins of American intellectual property …

[CITATION] Copyright, Patent, Trademark and Related State Doctrines Case and Materials …