Case LIII: Appropriating Another's Ideas

The following case has been submitted to us for a solution: Mr. C., a draughtsman, is told by his employer to try to remember and make a sketch (that is, to steal the idea) of a drawing which was being submitted for sale by another draughtsman. Would it be wrong for Mr. C. to do so?

Solution.—All theologians are agreed that an author or writer or architect or draughtsman has a strict right to the fruits of his genius. And this right of ownership in the fruits of one's intellectual labor is founded in the law of nature. For if it be a law of nature that men should have an exclusive right to the fruits of the labor of their hands, with much more reason ought they to have an exclusive right to the fruits of the labor of their brains. And if the good of civilized society requires that a man be secured by law in the peaceful possession of whatever property he has acquired by his industry, with much more reason must we hold that the good of civilized society requires that men be secured by law in the peaceful possession of that higher and more valuable kind of property, namely, the results of intellectual and artistic talent. There is nothing that is more intimate to a man—or, to speak more properly, there is no kind of property so intimately and closely connected with a man—as the fruits of his own genius. For these are the fruits of the creation of his own mind, and had no existence before he brought them into being; and therefore the fruits of his intellectual industry belong to him and are part of his being in a way that no other kind of goods and chattels can be said to be. Consequently, it has always been maintained by theologians and jurists alike that an author or inventor or painter, or any other intellectual worker, is entitled to exelusive ownership in the results of his intellectual labor as long as he does not hand over his rights to the public, or part with them by sale or free gift to another. And this strict right of an author or inventor or other intellectual worker to the fruits of his genius imposes a grievous obligation on all other persons to respect this right, and to avoid all invasion of it. It is not allowed to steal another's ideas, any more than it is allowed to steal his lands, and any such theft must be made good by adequate restitution.

“Now all concede that every person has full ownership of the fruits of his intellect so long as he has not made them public property; for nothing can be more our own than what we acquire by our mind’s own labor. And indeed, if external things bear fruit for their owner, a fortiori internal faculties, which flow immediately from our essence. Therefore, one who stole and published another’s manuscripts or inventions without the author’s permission would sin against justice and be bound to repair damages; since he violates a twofold right belonging to the author: that the work written by him not be published against his will, and that the profit to be derived from it not be diminished” (Tanquerey, III., 39).

Judge Kent (American Law, Vol. II., n. 365) says:

"Another instance of property acquired by one's own act and power is that of literary property, consisting of maps, charts, writings and books; and of mechanical inventions, consisting of useful machines or discoveries produced by the joint result of intellectual and manual labor. As long as these are kept within the possession of the author, he has the same right to the exclusive enjoyment of them as of any other species of personal property; for they have proprietary marks, and are a distinguishable subject of property. But when they are circulated abroad and published with the author's consent, they become common property, and subject to the free use of the community."

Mr. C, therefore, is not allowed, in conscience, to use the ideas of his fellow-draughtsman in the interest of his employer. His fellow-draughtsman, by offering his designs for sale, does not relinquish his right to them. For another to steal them or to use them against their rightful owner's and creator's will is to transgress the seventh commandment, and full pecuniary restitution must be made to the original designer or draughtsmen for any loss he may have suffered before the sin can be forgiven.