The United States v. Milliken Imprinting Company case in 1905 revolved around the issue of copyright infringement. The U.S government accused Milliken Imprinting Company, a textile manufacturer, of violating copyright laws by reproducing copyrighted designs on its products without permission from the original creators or paying any royalties. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the U.S government and held that even though textiles were not explicitly mentioned under items protected by copyright law at that time, they fell within its scope as "prints" or "pictorial illustrations". This ruling expanded the interpretation of what could be considered an object subject to copyright protection and set a precedent for future cases involving similar issues.

The dissenting opinion in the United States v. Milliken Imprinting Company case argued that the majority's decision to uphold a tax on foreign-made goods, even if they were modified or improved upon within U.S. borders, was incorrect and potentially harmful to domestic industries. The dissenters believed that once an imported good had been significantly altered or enhanced by American labor or ingenuity, it should be considered a new product of domestic manufacture and thus not subject to import duties. They feared that upholding such taxes would discourage innovation and investment in American businesses who sought to add value to raw materials or unfinished products sourced from abroad. Furthermore, they contended this interpretation contradicted previous court rulings which held that significant transformation of an imported article resulted in its classification as a domestically produced item for taxation purposes.