The United Dictionary Company v. G. & C. Merriam Company case in 1907 revolved around a copyright dispute between two dictionary publishers, the United Dictionary Company and G. & C. Merriam Company (now known as Merriam-Webster). The plaintiff, United Dictionary Co., alleged that the defendant had infringed on their copyright by using material from their publication "Imperial Encyclopedic Dictionary" in creating its own work titled "Webster's International Dictionary". However, the Supreme Court ruled against them stating that there was no substantial similarity between both works to constitute an infringement of copyright laws; thus ruling in favor of G.&C.Merriam Co.. Furthermore, it was noted that many definitions used were common knowledge or general information which could not be copyrighted under law.

In the dissenting opinion for the United States Supreme Court case, UNITED DICTIONARY COMPANY v. G. & C. MERRIAM COMPANY, 1907, it was argued that there should be no monopoly on knowledge or language and that copyright laws were not intended to protect dictionary definitions as they are considered facts of common knowledge available to all people. The justice disagreed with the majority's interpretation of copyright law in this context and believed that allowing a company to hold exclusive rights over commonly used words would hinder free speech and intellectual progress by limiting access to information.