List of United States Supreme Court copyright case law

This is a list of Supreme Court of the United States cases in the area of copyright law.

Case	Citation	Year	Vote	Classification	Subject Matter	Opinions	Statute Interpreted	Summary
Wheaton v. Peters	33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591	1834	5 - 2	Substantive	Copyrightability/Common law Copyright/Formalities	Majority: McLean Dissent: Thompson, Baldwin		There is no such thing as common law copyright and one must observe the formalities to secure a copyright.
Trade-Mark Cases	100 U.S. 82	1879	9 - 0	Non-Copyright	Constitutional basis for Trademark regulation	Majority: Miller (unanimous)		Copyright Clause does not give Congress the power to regulate trademarks
Baker v. Selden	101 U.S. 99	1879	9 - 0	Substantive	Idea/Expression Dichotomy	Majority: Bradley (unanimous)		Idea-expression divide; differences between copyright & patent law
Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony	111 U.S. 53	1884	9 - 0	Substantive	Copyrightability of photography	Majority: Miller (unanimous)		Extended copyright protection to photography.
Banks v. Manchester	128 U.S. 244	1888	9 - 0	Substantive	Copyrightability of laws	Majority: Blatchford (unanimous)		No copyright in state Supreme Court opinions.
Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Company	188 U.S. 239	1903	7 - 2	Substantive	Copyrightability of commercial art	Majority: Holmes Dissent: Harlan (McKenna)		Copyright protection of illustrations made for advertisements
United Dictionary Co. v. G. & C. Merriam Co.	208 U.S. 260	1908	9 - 0	Substantive	Formalities	Majority: Holmes (unanimous)
White-Smith Music Publishing Company v. Apollo Company	209 U.S. 1	1908	9 - 0	Substantive	Public performance right in music	Majority: Day (unanimous) Concurrence: Holmes		Reproduction of the sounds of musical instruments playing music for which copyright granted not a violation of the copyright.
Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus	210 U.S. 339	1908	9 - 0	Substantive	First-sale doctrine	Majority: Day (unanimous)		No license to use copyrighted material. License cannot extend holder's rights beyond statute defined by Congress.
Kalem Co. v. Harper Bros.	222 U.S. 55	1911	9 - 0	Substantive	Derivative works and Secondary liability	Majority: Holmes (unanimous)
Ferris v. Frohman	223 U.S. 424	1912	9 - 0	Substantive	Publication and Public Performance	Majority: Hughes (unanimous)
Bauer & Cie. v. O'Donnell	229 U.S. 1	1913	5 - 4	Non-Copyright	Intersection of patents and first-sale doctrine	Majority: Day Dissent: Holmes (McKenna, Lurton, Van Devanter)		Differences between patent and copyright defined also prohibits a license from extending rightsholders' rights beyond statute. Rights of copyright holder regarding “use” of copyrighted works.
Herbert v. Shanley Co.	242 U.S. 591	1917	9 - 0	Substantive	Public performance of live music in business establishments	Majority: Holmes (unanimous)	Copyright Act of 1909
International News Service v. Associated Press	248 U.S. 215	1918	5 - 3	Non-Copyright	Hot News	Majority: Pitney Dissent: Holmes (McKenna), Brandeis
Buck v. Jewell-LaSalle Realty Co.	283 U.S. 191	1931	9 - 0	Substantive	Public performance right in radio broadcasts in business establishments	Majority: Brandeis (unanimous)	Copyright Act of 1909	A hotel operator which provided headphones connected to a centrally-controlled radio receiver was guilty of copyright infringement, because "reception of a radio broadcast and its translation into audible sound is not a mere audition of the original program. It is essentially a reproduction." NB: Gene Buck, plaintiff, was president of ASCAP.
Fox Film Corp v. Doyal	286 U.S. 123	1932	9 - 0	Substantive	Taxation of royalties	Majority: Hughes (unanimous)
Washingtonian Pub. Co. v. Pearson	306 U.S. 30	1938	6 - 3	Substantive	Formalities	Majority: McReynolds Dissent: Black (O. Roberts, Reed)	Copyright Act of 1909	The 1909 Act's deposit requirement did not require immediate deposit, or deposit before infringement occurs, in order to bring a suit for infringement
Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp.	309 U.S. 390	1940	8 - 0	Procedural	Damages	Majority: Hughes (unanimous)	Copyright Act of 1909	In the case of an unauthorized adaptation, court may elect to award only a portion of an infringer's profits to the plaintiff.
Fred Fisher Music Co. v. M. Witmark & Sons	318 U.S. 643	1943	9 - 0	Substantive	Renewal terms and assignment	Majority: Frankfurter (unanimous)	Copyright Act of 1909
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.	334 U.S. 131	1948	7 - 1	Non-Copyright	Antitrust	Majority: Douglas Dissent: Frankfurter (in part)	Sherman Antitrust Act
F. W. Woolworth Co. v. Contemporary Arts, Inc.	344 U.S. 227	1952	7 - 2	Procedural	Election of remedies (Statutory Damages)	Majority: Jackson Dissent: Black (Frankfurter)	Copyright Act of 1909	Court may grant statutory damages, even when infringer proves its gross profits were less than the statutory award. Judges granted wide lattitude when determining legal remedies based on the facts of the case.
Mazer v. Stein	347 U.S. 201	1954	7 - 2	Substantive	Copyrightability of sculpture and Idea/Expression Dichotomy	Majority: Reed Dissent: Douglas (Black)	Copyright Act of 1909	Extended copyright protection to functional art.
De Sylva v. Ballentine	351 U.S. 570	1956	9 - 0	Substantive	Renewal terms and beneficiaries	Majority: Harlan II (unanimous)	Copyright Act of 1909
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Loew's, Inc.	356 U.S. 43	1958	4 - 4	Substantive	Fair use in parody			aff'd 4-4 sub. nom., Benny v. Loew's, 239 F.2d 532 (9th Cir. 1956)
Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc.	392 U.S. 390	1968	5 - 1	Substantive	Public performance of broadcast television	Majority: Stewart Dissent: Fortas		Receiving a television broadcast (of a licensed work) does not constitute a "performance"
Goldstein v. California	412 U.S. 546	1973	5 - 4	Non-Copyright	Federal pre-emption of state criminal copyright law	Majority: Burger Dissent: Douglas (Brennan, Blackmun), Marshall (Brennan, Blackmun)
Teleprompter Corp. v. Columbia Broadcasting	415 U.S. 394	1974	6 - 3	Substantive	Public performance of broadcast television	Majority: [[Potter Stewart| Dissent: Blackmun (in part), Douglas (Burger)		Receiving a television broadcast does not constitute a "performance"
Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken	422 U.S. 151	1975	7 - 2	Substantive	Public performance of radio broadcasts in business establishments	Majority: Stewart Dissent: Burger (Douglas) Concurrence: Blackmun		Receiving a radio broadcast of a licensed work does not constitute a "performance". This effectively overruled Buck v. Jewel-LaSalle Realty Co. (1931)
Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States	420 U.S. 376	1976	4 - 4	Substantive	Fair use in photocopies			aff'd by an equally divided court, 420 U.S. 376, 95 S.Ct. 1344 (1975)
Broadcast Music v. Columbia Broadcasting System	441 U.S. 1	1979	8 - 1	Non-Copyright	Antitrust and copyright collective rights organizations	Majority: White Dissent: Stevens	Sherman Antitrust Act
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.	464 U.S. 417	1984	5 - 4	Substantive	Secondary liability and fair use in home recordings	Majority: Stevens Dissent: Blackmun (Marshall, Powell, Rehnquist)	Copyright Act of 1976	The Betamax Case
Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder	469 U.S. 153	1985	5 - 4	Substantive	Termination	Majority: Stevens Dissent: White (Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun)	Copyright Act of 1976	Assignment of royalties under the Copyright Act
Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises	471 U.S. 539	1985	6 - 3	Substantive	Fair use in excerpts	Majority: O'Connor Dissent: Brennan (White, Marshall)	Copyright Act of 1976	The interest served by republication of a public figure's account of an event is not sufficient to permit nontransformative Fair use.
Dowling. v. United States	473 U.S. 207	1985	6 - 3	Non-Copyright	Criminal law impact of infringement	Majority: Blackmun Dissent: Powell (Burger, White)		Copyright infringement is not theft, conversion, or fraud; illegally-made copies are not stolen goods.
Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid	490 U.S. 730	1989	9 - 0	Substantive	Work-made-for-hire	Majority: Marshall (unanimous)	Copyright Act of 1976	Works for hire.
Stewart v. Abend	495 U.S. 207	1990	6 - 3	Substantive	Derivative works	Majority: O'Connor Dissent: Stevens (Rehnquist, Scalia) Concurrence: White	Copyright Act of 1976	Rights of the successor of a copyright interest
Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co.	499 U.S. 340	1991	9 - 0	Substantive	Copyrightability of Facts and Idea/Expression Dichotomy	Majority: O'Connor Concurrence: Blackmun	Copyright Act of 1976	Affirmed the need for a minimal amount of creativity before a work is copyrightable. "Sweat of the brow" alone is not sufficient to bestow copyright.
Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc.	510 U.S. 517	1994	9 - 0	Procedural	Attorneys Fees	Majority: Rehnquist Concurrence: Thomas	Copyright Act of 1976	Attorney's fees in copyright litigation may be awarded to successful defendants, as well as to successful plaintiffs
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.	510 U.S. 569	1994	9 - 0	Substantive	Fair use in Commercial Parody	Majority: Souter Concurrence: Kennedy	Copyright Act of 1976	Commercial parody can be fair use.
Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc.	516 U.S. 233	1995	4 - 4	Substantive	Copyrightability of software program interfaces		Copyright Act of 1976	Scope of software copyrights.
Quality King Distributors, Inc. v. L'anza Research Int'l, Inc.	523 U.S. 135	1998	9 - 0	Substantive	Reimportation	Majority: Stevens Concurrence: Ginsburg	Copyright Act of 1976	First-sale doctrine applies to reimported goods
Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc.	523 U.S. 340	1998	9 - 0	Procedural	Right to Jury Trial on Statutory Damages	Majority: Thomas Concurrence: Scalia	Copyright Act of 1976	Seventh Amendment right to jury trial in a copyright infringement case
New York Times Co. v. Tasini	533 U.S. 483	2001	7 - 2	Substantive	Collective works	Majority: Ginsburg Dissent: Stevens (Breyer)	Copyright Act of 1976	Freelance journalists did not grant electronic republication rights for collective work.
Eldred v. Ashcroft	537 U.S. 186	2003	7 - 2	Substantive	Term Extension	Majority: Ginsburg Dissent: Stevens, Breyer	Copyright Act of 1976	Challenge to Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998; held Congress may retroactively extend the duration of works still under copyright, as long as the extension is limited.
Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.	539 U.S. 23	2003	8 - 0	Non-Copyright	Intersection of TM law with public domain works	Majority: Scalia (unanimous)	Lanham Act	Trademark cannot preserve rights to a public domain work.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.	545 U.S. 913	2005	9 - 0	Substantive	Secondary liability	Majority: Souter (unanimous) Concurrence: Ginsburg (Rehnquist, Kennedy), Breyer (Stevens, O'Connor)	Copyright Act of 1976	Distributors of peer-to-peer file-sharing software can be liable for copyright infringement if there are "affirmative steps taken to foster infringement".
Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick	559 U.S. 154	2010	8 - 0	Procedural	Registration	Majority: Thomas Concurrence: Ginsburg (Stevens, Breyer)	Copyright Act of 1976	Settlement of copyright infringement claims relating to an electronic database
Omega S.A. v. Costco Wholesale Corp.	562 U.S. ___	2010	4 - 4	Substantive	First-sale doctrine		Copyright Act of 1976	aff'g 541 F.3d 982 (9th Cir. 2008)
Golan v. Holder	565 U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 873	2012	6 - 2	Substantive	Restoration of copyright in public domain works	Majority: Ginsburg Dissent: Breyer (Alito)	Copyright Act of 1976	Challenge to Uruguay Round Agreements Act; held Constitution gives broad discretion to Congress to decide how best to promote the "progress of science and the useful arts", including restoring copyright in public domain works.
Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.	568 U.S. ___, 133 S. Ct. 1351	2013	6 - 3	Substantive	First-sale doctrine	Majority: Breyer Dissent: Ginsburg (Scalia (in part)), Kennedy) Concurrence: Kagan (Alito)	Copyright Act of 1976	The first-sale doctrine applies to copyrighted works made lawfully overseas.