Joseph Beifeld commissioned the American artist Maxfield Parrish to paint Sing a Song of Sixpence for the barroom of the Hotel Sherman in Chicago and obtained a transfer of copyright in the painting from the artist. [Editor's Note: In fact, the words “Copyright 1910 by Joseph Beifeld” appear on the bottom center of the canvas.] Dodge Publishing Company subsequently printed pictures considered to be “substantial copies” of Sing a Song of Sixpence, which the defendant asserted were from a preliminary watercolor sketch for the painting. Circuit Judge Ward held that the study infringed Beifeld’s copyright in the painting, even if the defendant technically copied the uncopyrighted preliminary sketches, because the differences between the final painting and the sketches were so minimal as to be immaterial.

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Editor's Note: After hanging in the Hotel Sherman, the painting was held in a gallery and two private collections before being sold at Christie’s for over $2 million in 2010.

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