Portal:United States copyright case law

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Class K - Law
Subclass F - Law of the United States

United States copyright case law

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Supreme Court rulings are binding precedent across the United States; Circuit Court rulings are binding within a certain portion of it (the circuit in question); District Court rulings are not binding precedent, but may still be referred to by other courts.

Case name	Citation	Court	Year	Subject, important findings
Wheaton v. Peters	33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591	S. Ct.	1834	There is no such thing as common law copyright and one must observe the formalities to secure a copyright.
Baker v. Selden	101 U.S. 99	S. Ct.	1879	Idea-expression divide.
Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony	111 U.S. 53	S. Ct.	1884	Extended copyright protection to photography.
Banks v. Manchester	128 U.S. 244	S. Ct.	1888	Expressions of law cannot be copyrighted.
Bobbs-Merrill Co v. Straus	210 U.S. 339	S. Ct.	1908	No license to use copyrighted material. License cannot extend holder’s rights beyond statute defined by Congress.
Bauer & Cie. v. O'Donnell	229 U.S. 1	S. Ct.	1913	Differences between patent and copyright defined also prohibits a license from extending holder’s rights beyond statute.
Macmillan Co. v. King	223 F. 862	D. Mass.	1914	Limits of fair use with respect to an educational context and to summaries.
Nichols v. Universal Pictures Co.	45 F.2d 119	2d Cir.	1930	No copyright for “stock characters”.
Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.	196 Misc. 67, 80 N.Y.S.2d 575 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1948), aff'd 275 A.D. 692, 87 N.Y.S.2d 430 (1949)	N.Y. Sup. Ct.	1948–9	No moral rights in public domain works.
National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications	191 F.2d 594 (1951), clarified 198 F.2d 927 (1952)	2d Cir.	1951–2	Derivative works; an author does not forfeit his copyright to a piece of intellectual property if his work is contracted to another who fails to properly copyright works which incorporate the original property (obsoleted by Copyright Act of 1976).
Irving Berlin et al. v. E.C. Publications, Inc.	329 F. 2d 541	2d Cir.	1964	Parody.
Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States	487 F.2d 1345	Ct. Cl.	1973	Libraries’ photocopying for research was fair use.
Stern Electronics, Inc. v. Kaufman	669 F.2d 852	2d Cir.	1982	Copyright on computer programs includes images and sounds as well as the computer code.
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp.	714 F.2d 1240	3rd Cir.	1983	Computer software is protected by copyright (affirmed and obsoleted by subsequent legislation).
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (the "Betamax case")	464 U.S. 417	S. Ct.	1984	Products with substantial non-infringing uses (e.g. video recorders) may be sold even if they can be used to infringe.
Dowling v. United States	473 U.S. 207	S. Ct.	1985	Copyright infringement is not theft, conversion, or fraud; illegally made copies are not stolen goods.
Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises	471 U.S. 539	S. Ct.	1985	The interest served by republication of a public figure's account of an event is not sufficient to permit nontransformative fair use.
Hasbro Bradley, Inc. v. Sparkle Toys, Inc.	780 F.2d 189	2d Cir.	1985	Rule of the shorter term not applied to toys without an overseas copyright
Fisher v. Dees	794 F.2d 432	9th Cir.	1986	Parody of song performance is legitimate fair use
Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.	663 F. Supp. 706	S.D.N.Y.	1987	Derivative works.
Anderson v. Stallone	11 USPQ2D 1161	C.D. Cal	1989	Derivative works.
Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid	490 U.S. 730	S. Ct.	1989	Works made for hire.
Basic Books, Inc. v. Kinko's Graphics Corporation	758 F. Supp. 1522	S.D.N.Y.	1991	Articles copied for educational use are not necessarily fair use.
Advent Sys. Ltd. v. Unisys Corp	925 F.2d 670	3d Cir.	1991	The sale of software is the sale of a good within the meaning of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Downriver Internists v. Harris Corp	929 F.2d 1147, 1150	6th Cir.	1991	The sale of software is the sale of a good within the meaning of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service	499 U.S. 340	S. Ct.	1991	"Sweat of the brow" alone is not sufficient to bestow copyright.
Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc.	780 F. Supp. 182	S.D.N.Y.	1991	Music sampling is generally copyright infringement.
Step-Saver Data Systems, Inc. v. Wyse Technology	939 F.2d 91	3rd Cir.	1991	The need to characterize the transaction as a license to use software is “largely anachronistic”.
Computer Associates Int. Inc. v. Altai Inc.	982 F.2d 693	2d Cir.	1992	“Substantial similarity” is required for copyright infringement to occur.
Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc.	780 F. Supp. 1283	9th Cir.	1992	Consumers may modify purchased computer games for their own use.
Rogers v. Koons	960 F.2d 301	2d Cir.	1992	Fair use and parody.
MAI Systems Corp. v. Peak Computer, Inc.	991 F.2d 511	9th Cir.	1993	RAM ("working memory") copies of computer programs are governed by copyright.
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.	35 F.3d 1435	9th Cir.	1994	Certain components of computer programs' graphical user interfaces are not copyrightable.
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.	510 U.S. 569	S. Ct.	1994	Commercial parody can be fair use.
Carter v. Helmsley-Spear Inc.	861 F. Supp. 303	S.D.N.Y.	1994	Interpreting moral rights provisions of U.S. Visual Artists Rights Act (overturned for other reasons: 71 F.3d 77 (2d Cir. 1995), cert. denied 116 S. Ct. 1824 (1996)).
Lotus v. Borland	49 F.3d 807	1st Cir.	1995	Software interfaces per se are "methods of operation" and are not covered by copyright.
Self-Realization Fellowship Church v. Ananda Church	59 F.3d 902, 910	9th Cir.	1995	Renewal rights are not assignable.
Applied Info. Mgmt., Inc, v. Icart	976 Supp. 149, 155	E.D.N.Y.	1997	The sale of software is the sale of a good. Case was dropped.
Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc.	153 F.3d 82	2d Cir.	1998	Jurisdiction with closest association to putative owner applies to determine copyright ownership.
Bridgeman Art Library Ltd. v. Corel Corporation	36 F. Supp. 2d 191	S.D.N.Y.	1999	"Slavish copying" is inherently uncreative and cannot confer copyright.
Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc.	194 F.3d 1211	11th Cir.	1999	Giving a public speech is not public-domain publication under the Copyright Act of 1909.
Novell, Inc. v. CPU Distrib., Inc.	2000 US Dist. Lexis. 9975	SD Tex.	2000	The first-sale doctrine applies to computer software.
UMG v. MP3.com	2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5761	S.D.N.Y.	2000	Distribution of copyrighted music without permission of the copyright holders is infringement even if the downloader already owns a copy of the music.
A & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.	239 F.3d 1004	9th Cir.	2001	Knowingly failing to take steps to prevent infringement, while benefiting from said infringement, is grounds for contributory infringement. Also, users of file-sharing services infringe by both uploading and downloading works without permission.
New York Times Company v. Tasini	533 U.S. 483	S. Ct.	2001	Freelance journalists did not grant electronic republication rights for collective work.
SoftMan Products Co. v. Adobe Systems Inc.	CV 00-04161 DDP (AJWx)	C.D. Cal.	2001	The first-sale doctrine applies to computer software and cannot be waived or taken away through an end-user license agreement.
Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin	252 F. 3d 1165	11th Cir.	2001	Parody and fair use.
Universal v. Reimerdes	273 F.3d 429	2d Cir.	2001	Affirmed the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Veeck v. Southern Bldg. Code Cong. Int'l	241 F.3d 398, 416	5th Cir.	2001	A private organization cannot assert copyright protection for its model codes, after the models have been adopted by a legislative body and become the law.
Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corporation	280 F.3d 934	3d Cir.	2002	Thumbnails and inline linking can be fair use.
Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.	539 U.S. 23	S. Ct.	2003	Trademark cannot preserve rights to a public domain work.
Eldred v. Ashcroft	537 U.S. 186	S. Ct.	2003	Congress may retroactively extend the duration of works still under copyright, as long as the extension is limited.
CoStar Group v. LoopNet	373 F.3d 544	4th Cir.	2004	Internet service provider was found liable for copyright infringement of photographs of commercial real estate by allowing subscribers to post the photographs on the provider's website.
Arizona Cartridge Remanufacturers Association Inc. v. Lexmark International Inc.	03-16987 D.C. No. CV-01-04626SBA/JL OPINION	9th Cir.	2005	End User License Agreements on a physical box can be binding on consumers who signal their acceptance of the license agreement by opening the box.
Golan v. Gonzales (in progress)	No. 01-B-1854, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6800	D.Co. 2005. 10th Cir.	(2007)
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.	545 U.S., 125 S. Ct. 2764	S. Ct.	2005	Distributors of peer-to-peer file-sharing software can be liable for copyright infringement if there are "affirmative steps taken to foster infringement".
Capitol Records, Inc. v. Naxos of America, Inc.	4 N.Y.3d 540	2d Cir.	2005	Rule of the shorter term not applied for sound recordings, pre-1972 when the works were a special case covered by state law and not federal jurisdiction
Perfect 10 v. Google Inc	CASE NO. CV 04-9484 AHM (SHx)	C.D. Cal.	2006	Thumbnails in Web searches were fair use. Framed inline images of full size were not infringing copies. (9th circuit reversed the DC's holding of no Fair Use)
Meshwerks, Inc. v. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc., et al.	528 F.3d 1258 (10th Cir. 2008)	10th Cir.	2008	3D models of physical objects, if faithfully and accurately representing the original, are not original enough to warrant copyright protection

Portal:United States copyright case law

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