List of copyright case law
Case name Reporter Court/Year Findings
Wheaton v. Peters 33 U.S. ( 8 Pet . ) 591 1834 There is no such thing as common law copyright and one must observe the formalities to secure a copyright
Folsom v. Marsh 9 . F.Cas . 342 ( C.C.D . Mass . 1841 ) 1841 Fair use
Baker v. Selden 101 U.S. 99 1879 Idea-expression divide
Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony 111 U.S. 53 1884 Extended copyright protection to photography
White-Smith Music Publishing Company v. Apollo Company 209 U.S. 1 1908 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 No license to use copyrighted material . License can not extend holder 's rights beyond statute defined by Congress
Bauer & Cie. v. O'Donnell 229 U.S. 1 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
Nutt v. National Institute Inc 31 F.2d 236 2d Cir . 1929 It is not the subject that is protected by copyright . It is the treatment of a subject that is protected
Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp 45 F.2d 119 2d Cir . 1930 No copyright for stock characters
Cain v. Universal Pictures 47 F.Supp . 1013 S. Dist . Calif 1942 Scènes à faire
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 ) 1948-9 No moral rights in public domain works
Alfred Bell & Co. v. Catalda Fine Arts , Inc 191 F.2d 99 2d . Cir . 1951 Variations of works in the public domain can be copyrighted if the new author contributed something more than a merely trivial variation , but no large measure of novelty is necessary
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 )
F. W. Woolworth Co. v. Contemporary Arts , Inc 344 U.S. 228 1952 Provided wide latitude to judges when determining legal remedies based on the facts of the case
Mazer v. Stein 347 U.S. 201 1954 Extended copyright protection to applied art
Irving Berlin et al . v. E.C . Publications , Inc 329 F. 2d 541 2d . Cir . 1964 Parody
Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists 392 U.S. 390 1968 Television broadcasters perform copyrighted works . Viewers do not perform . CATV was more like a viewer than a broadcaster and did not infringe when rebroadcasting copyrighted works
Roth Greeting Cards v. United Card Co 429 F.2d 1106 9th Cir . 1970 Copyright may be infringed when total concept and feel is the same
Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States 487 F.2d 1345 Ct. Cl . 1973 Libraries ' photocopying for research was fair use
United States
See also : List of United States Supreme Court copyright case law
The following is a list of cases that deal with issues of concern to copyright in various jurisdictions. Some of these cases are leading English cases as the law of copyright in various Commonwealth jurisdictions developed out of English law while these countries were colonies of the British Empire. Other cases provide background in areas of copyright law that may be of interest for the legal reasoning or the conclusions they reach.