In the case of Street & Smith v. Atlas Manufacturing Company in 1913, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute regarding copyright infringement. Street & Smith, a publishing company that produced dime novels and pulp magazines, accused Atlas Manufacturing Company of infringing upon their copyrights by producing and selling metal plates used to print copies of their publications without permission. The court found that while Atlas did produce these plates for third parties who then infringed upon Street & Smith's copyrights, they were not directly responsible for this infringement as they had no control over how these plates were used once sold. Therefore, it was determined that there was no contributory liability on part of Atlas Manufacturing Company because they did not have knowledge or intent to contribute to any illegal activity.

In the dissenting opinion for Street & Smith v. Atlas Manufacturing Company, Justice Holmes disagreed with the majority's ruling that a copyright infringement had occurred. He argued that while both parties' products were indeed similar, this similarity was due to them being based on common ideas rather than one party copying from another. According to him, there is no exclusive ownership of an idea; it is only its expression in a tangible form that can be protected under copyright law. Therefore, he believed that as long as each party expressed their shared idea in their own unique way without directly copying from each other’s work, no infringement could have taken place. In his view, the case should not have been decided based on who first came up with or published these common ideas but rather whether any direct and substantial copying of expression took place.