<Li> 11th: 2003 </Li> <P> Since the late 19th century, dictionaries bearing the name Webster's have been published by companies other than Merriam - Webster . Some of these were unauthorized reprints of Noah Webster's work; some were revisions of his work . One such revision was Webster's Imperial Dictionary, based on John Ogilvie's The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language, itself an expansion of Noah Webster's American Dictionary . </P> <P> Following legal action by Merriam, successive US courts ruled by 1908 that Webster's entered the public domain when the Unabridged did, in 1889 . In 1917, a US court ruled that Webster's entered the public domain in 1834 when Noah Webster's 1806 dictionary's copyright lapsed . Thus, Webster's became a genericized trademark and others were free to use the name on their own works . </P> <P> Since then, use of the name Webster has been rampant . Merriam - Webster goes to great pains to remind dictionary buyers that it alone is the heir to Noah Webster . Although Merriam - Webster revisers find solid ground in Noah Webster's concept of the English language as an ever - changing tapestry, the issue is more complicated than that . Throughout the 20th century, some non-Merriam editions, such as Webster's New Universal, were closer to Webster's work than contemporary Merriam - Webster editions . Further revisions by Merriam - Webster came to have little in common with their original source, while the Universal, for example, was minimally revised and remained largely out of date . </P>

How many pages in the merriam webster dictionary