F. W. Woolworth Company Co. had the first five-and-dime stores, which sold discounted general merchandise at fixed prices, usually five or ten cents, undercutting the prices of other local merchants. Woolworth, as the stores popularly became known, was one of the first American retailers to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk. Earlier retailers had kept all merchandise behind a counter and customers presented the clerk with a list of items they wished to buy. After working in Augsbury and Moore dry goods store in Watertown, New York, Frank Winfield Woolworth obtained credit
F. W. Woolworth Co. v. Contemporary Arts, Inc. attorneys disputed the existence of a copyright violation in the original trial, the appellate court assumed the infringement and focused on the calculation and method for the legal remedy. Woolworth bought 127 dozen dogs at $0.60 each and sold them for $1.19 each for a total gross profits of $899.16. Woolworth argued that its liability was limited to its own profits. Although the profits appear substantial by this calculation, Woolworth failed to include allowable deducted for overhead and taxes. The majority decision found that low-margin sales provided poor remedy to discourage copyright violations. “If we sustain petitioner's contention that profits