Also known as: printed publication · publication · printed pub
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Documents or materials that have been disseminated to the public, triggering legal consequences in areas such as defamation liability, evidentiary use of treatises, and constitutionally adequate notice.
Peak Performance regularly ships its monthly magazine to subscribers in State X. After an article accuses Paula Pierce of fraud, she sues the publisher in State X court. The court exercises jurisdiction because the publisher could reasonably anticipate being sued where its printed publication circulates and causes harm.
Peter Park mails a printed newsletter to clients falsely stating that Patrick Phan committed a crime. Because the publication imputes criminal conduct, Phan may recover damages even without proving special harm.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
At trial an expert testifies that a printed medical treatise is a reliable authority. The court permits the expert to read the relevant statement into evidence but refuses to admit the book itself as an exhibit.
A trust proceeding involves hundreds of dispersed beneficiaries. The trustee mails notice to all whose addresses are known and publishes notice in a newspaper for those whose identities are unknown. The court holds that due process is satisfied.
Prism Analytics prints and distributes one edition of a book containing a false statement about Prime Logistics. The company may bring only one defamation action and must recover all damages from every jurisdiction in that single suit.
Penelope Price sues Phoenix Technologies for injurious falsehood after the company mails a printed report falsely disparaging her product. To prevail she must prove the report was published to third parties who understood its injurious meaning.
Only one action may be maintained. All damages suffered in every jurisdiction must be recovered in that single suit.
Publication may suffice for unknown parties when personal service or mail is impracticable, provided all defendants share substantially identical interests and known parties receive direct notice.
The publication must be shown to be a reliable authority by the expert's own testimony, another expert's testimony, or judicial notice. The statement is read but the document itself is not received as an exhibit.
…to "not known or used by others in this country" and the requirement that the invention be "not patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country" was added. Finally, in 1952, the present Patent Act was enacted. It provides that an invention is not patentable if "the subject matter as a whole would have…