41 F.Supp. 296
ment. The case has been submitted, first on the motion to dismiss, and secondly the prayer for summary judgment by complainants.
The motion to dismiss is for failure to state a cause of action or grounds for relief, under Rule 12 (b); while the demand for summary judgment is under Rule 56 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c.
Motion to Dismiss.
This motion alleges invalidity of the copyright in that (a) Frederick Spencer Oliver, to whom the original was issued, did not pretend to be the author of the book “A Dweller on Two Planets”, but stated plainly that it was dictated to him by the spirit of a previously deceased person; (b) the copyright was issued to him not as author but as proprietor; and (c) that this necessarily implied an assignment which could not be made by the spirit of a dead man. Further, that a proprietor has only a limited right of renewal (the original copyright having been issued more than forty years ago and renewed from time to time, the last time to Leslie Robert Oliver, son of Frederick Spencer Oliver), restricted to a “composite work upon which copyright was originally secured by the proprietor thereof”.
It appears from the record in this case that Frederick Spencer Oliver did not claim to be the author of the book as ideas and thoughts of his own, but he describes himself as the “amanuensis” to whom it was dictated by Phylos, the Thibetan, a spirit. The following is quoted from Oliver’s preface:
“By permission of the Author, whose letter addressed to me follows as his preface herein, and to meet the natural inquiry and satisfy, so far as any personal statement from me will, any honest inquiring mind, I humbly appear in order briefly to give the major facts concerning the writing of this, even to me, very remarkable book.
“I am an only child of Dr. and Mrs. Oliver, who for many years have resided in the State of California.
“I was born in Washington, D. C., in 1866, and brought to this State by my parents two years later. Prior to commencing the writing of this book, in 1884, my education had been comparatively limited, and extended to a very slight knowledge of the subjects herein treated. My father, a well known physician, died a few years ago, my mother surviving him. Both were daily witnesses of most of the circumstances and facts surrounding the writing of this book. But further than to state this, I do not think myself called upon to introduce my family into the work, nor, in fact, myself, except insofar as it is meet for me to stand forth and do my personal part as the amanuensis.
“I feel that I am mentally and spiritually but a figure beside the Author of the great, deep-searching, far-reaching and transcendent questions presented in the following pages; and I read and study them with as much interest and profit, I imagine, as will any reader. At the same time I feel with no sense of the natural pride of an Author of such a book, that it is a work of unselfish love, and will help to the betterment of an upward-strugging world, searching ever for more light, and feed the hungry for knowledge of the great mystery of life, and of the ever evolving soul, through Him who said—‘I am the Way: follow Me.’
“In these days of doubt, materialism, and even rank atheism, it requires all the courage I possess to assert, in clear unequivocal terms, that the following book, ‘A Dweller on Two Planets’, is absolute revelation; that I do not believe myself its Author, but that one of those mysterious persons, if my readers choose to so consider him, an adept of the arcane and occult in the universe, better understood from reading this book, is the Author. Such is the fact. The book was revealed to me, a boy, and a boy, too, whose parents were mistakenly lenient to such a degree that he was allowed to do as he chose in most things.”
More than six pages of the book are consumed in emphasizing that it is a true revelation by Phylos through Oliver, the “Amanuensis”, and the latter appends to his preface what he solemnly asserts are letters “from Phylos, the author of this history”, which read as follows:
“To-day, my brother, the masses of humanity on this planet are awakened to the fact that their knowledge of life, the Great Mystery, is insufficient for the needs of the soul. Hence a school of advanced thought has arisen, whose members, ignorant of the mysterious truth, yet know their ignorance and ask for light. I make no pretenses when I say that I, Theochristian student and Occult Adept, am one of a class of men who do know and can ex-
