Confirm favorite deletion?
Property Keyed to Merrill
Tribune Co. v. Oak Leaves Broadcasting Station, Inc.
Facts
The Chicago Daily Tribune (“Plaintiff”) owned both, a newspaper and a radio station. Plaintiff’s radio station issuedprogram on a daily basisto over 500,000 individuals primarily in the City of Chicago. In December 1925, Plaintiff started broadcasting the radio stationon a wavelength of 302.8 meters. At that time, there were not any other radio stations using a wavelength that was sufficiently close to the Plaintiff’s wavelength to interfere with the Tribune’s programs in Chicago or Illinois. Later, in September 1926, a competing station changed its wavelength to a frequency that was exactly the same as Plaintiff’s wavelength or was less than 50 kilocycles removed from the Plaintiff’s wavelength. Oak Leaves Broadcasting Station, Inc., the Coyne Electrical School, Inc., and a Chicago resident named Guyon (collectively known as “Defendants”) managed the competing station. Thereafter, Plaintiff brought suit requesting the court to issue an injunction against Defendants to prevent Defendants from operating their station on the Plaintiff’s wavelength. The lower court held for Plaintiff by issuing a temporary restraining order, which forbid Defendants from broadcasting on either the Tribune’s wavelength or a wavelength so close that it interfered with the Tribune’s radio programs. Defendants motioned to dissolve the order, and Plaintiff contended that Plaintiff had a right to the wavelength for the following reasons: Plaintiff was using the wavelength for a considerable amount of time, Plaintiff had spent a considerable amount of money to developing the station, the public associated the wavelength with Plaintiff, and the station had a large following. Furthermore, Plaintiff also alleged that Defendants would damage Plaintiff’s newspaper. Defendants asserted that the court cannot deem a wavelength cannot to be privately controlled, thus Defendant did not interfere with Plaintiff’s program, as Defendants’ station was removed from Plaintiff’s wavelength by 40 kilocycles.
Only StudyBuddy Pro offers the complete Case Brief Anatomy*
Access the most important case brief elements for optimal case understanding.
*Case Brief Anatomy includes: Brief Prologue, Complete Case Brief, Brief Epilogue
- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
Topic:
Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.Parties:
Identifies the cast of characters involved in the case.Procedural Posture & History:
Shares the case history with how lower courts have ruled on the matter.Case Key Terms, Acts, Doctrines, etc.:
A case specific Legal Term Dictionary.Case Doctrines, Acts, Statutes, Amendments and Treatises:
Identifies and Defines Legal Authority used in this case.
- The Case Brief is the complete case summarized and authored in the traditional Law School I.R.A.C. format. The Pro case brief includes:
Brief Facts:
A Synopsis of the Facts of the case.Rule of Law:
Identifies the Legal Principle the Court used in deciding the case.Facts:
What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case.Issue(s):
Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.Holding:
Shares the Court's answer to the legal questions raised in the issue.Concurring / Dissenting Opinions:
Includes valuable concurring or dissenting opinions and their key points.Reasoning and Analysis:
Identifies the chain of argument(s) which led the judges to rule as they did.
- The Brief Prologue closes the case brief with important forward-looking discussion and includes:
Policy:
Identifies the Policy if any that has been established by the case.Court Direction:
Shares where the Court went from here for this case.