Copyright & Intellectual Property

Article I Section 8.8 lays the foundation for copyright law in the United States. The importance of “limited times” should not be underestimated as it provides the rationale for the historical and future need for copyright terms that are not perpetual.

• U.S. Consitution
  Article I Section 8 | Clause 8 – Patent and Copyright Clause of the Constitution: [The Congress shall have power] “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”

• First Amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

• U.S. Copyright Act U.S. Copyright Office Title 17 of the U.S. Code
• U.S. Copyright Act Title 17 of the U.S. Code
• U.S. Copyright Act U.S. Copyright Office Title 17 of the U.S. Code (June 2003)
• Amendments to Title 17 since 1976
• U.S. Copyright Act from Cornell, full text searchable
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 - summary
• Amendments to US Law from Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) implementing the General Agreement on Tariffis and Trade (GATT)
• [Now archived] Thomas Legislative Service Bills and Other Legislative Information (including the Congressional Record)

• Copyright Regulations at Justia
• Copyright Regulations codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) from the US Copyright Office
• Copyright Regulations from the US Government Printing Office
• Code of Federal Regulations from the US Government Printing Office
• Federal Register – US Copyright Office announcements, rules, proposed rules, and other notices from the US Copyright Office Web Site
• The Federal Register 1994- present. The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents
• Federal Register rule from 9/29/95 relating to “Restoration of Certain Berne and WTO Works”

• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
• World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (1996)
• World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty (1996)

Recent and Significant Copyright Court Cases (abridged from Stanford University list)

• July 1, 2013 Per curiam The Authors Guild Inc., et al. v. Google, Inc. 12-3200
• March 19, 2013 U.S. Supreme Court Breyer Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 11-697
• May 11, 2012 Cambridge University Press v. Becker, 863 F. Supp. 2d 1190 - Dist. Court, ND Georgia 08-01425
• January 18, 2012 U.S. Supreme Court Ginsburg Golan v. Holder 10-545
• August 17, 2011 U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Walker In re Literary Works in Elec. Databases Litig. 05-5943 August 15, 2011 U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Cabranes John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Kirtsaeng 09-4896
• January 16, 2009 U.S. District Court Texas Northern District Fitzwater Chang v. Virgin Mobile, Creative Commons Corporation 3:2007cv01767
• August 30, 2007 U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Greenberg v. National Geographic Society 05-16964
• May 16, 2007 U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals A Howard Matz Perfect 10 v. Google, Inc. 487 F.3d 701
• July 13, 2006 U.S. District Court Oklahoma Western District Lee R. West Capitol Records, Inc. v. Foster 5:2004cv01569
• May 9, 2006 U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley Limited, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, and RR Donnelley & Sons Company 448 F.3d 605
• January 12, 2006 U.S. District Court Nevada District Robert C. Jones Field v. Google, Inc. 2:2004cv00413
• July 7, 2003 U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. 336 F.3d 811
• June 2, 2003 U.S. Supreme Court Scalia Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. 539 U.S. 23
• January 15, 2003 U.S. Supreme Court Ginsburg Eldred v. Ashcroft 537 U.S. 186
• March 25, 2002 U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals BEEZER A&M Records v. Napster 284 F.3d 1091
• June 25, 2001 U.S. Supreme Court Ginsburg New York Times Co., Inc. v. Tasini 533 U.S. 483
• May 19, 1997 U.S. District Court New York Southern District Martin Matthew Bender v. West Publishing 94 Civ. 0589
• November 8, 1996 U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Nelson Princeton University Press v. Michigan Document Services, Inc. 99 F.3d 1381
• November 21, 1995 U.S. District Court California Northern District Religious Technology Center v. Netcom 907 F. Supp. 1361
• July 17, 1995 U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Newman American Geophysical Union v. Texaco, Inc. 60 F.3d 913
• March 7, 1994 U.S. Supreme Court Stevens Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. 510 U.S. 569
• March 1, 1994 U.S. Supreme Court Rehnquist Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. 510 U.S. 517
• February 1, 1994 U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals National Rifle Ass’n of America v. Handgun Control Fed’n 15 F.3d 559
• August 27, 1992 U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Los Angeles News Service v. Tullo 973 F.2d 791
• March 28, 1991 U.S. District Court New York Southern District Constance Baker Motley Basic Books, Inc. v. Kinko’s Graphics Corp. 758 F. Supp. 1522
• March 27, 1991 U.S. Supreme Court O'Connor Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. 499 U.S. 340
• March 19, 1991 U.S. Supreme Court Scalia W. Va. Univ. Hosps. v. Casey 499 U.S. 83
• April 24, 1990 U.S. Supreme Court O'Connor Stewart v. Abend 495 U.S. 207
• June 5, 1989 U.S. Supreme Court Marshall Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid 490 U.S. 730
• May 4, 1987 U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Salinger v. Random House and Ian Hamilton 811 F.2d 90
• March 20, 1987 D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Edwards International Bhd. of Elec. Workers v. NLRB 814 F.2d 697
• October 15, 1986 U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Maxtone-Graham v. Burtchaell 803 F.2d 1253
• May 20, 1985 U.S. Supreme Court O'Connor Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises 471 U.S. 539
• January 17, 1984 U.S. Supreme Court Stevens Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. 464 U.S. 417
• March 10, 1983 U.S. District Court New York Western District Curtin Encyclopedia Britannica Educ. Corp. v. Crooks 58 F. Supp. 1247
• January 6, 1983 U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Marcus v. Rowley 695 F.2d 1171
• June 17, 1975 U.S. Supreme Court Stewart Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken 422 U.S. 151
• February 25, 1975 U.S. Supreme Court Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States 420 U.S. 376
• December 17, 1974 U.S. Supreme Court Powell Gulf Oil Corp. v. Copp Paving Co. 419 U.S. 186
• March 4, 1974 U.S. Supreme Court Stewart Teleprompter Corp. v. Columbia Broadcasting 415 U.S. 394
• 1973 United States Court of Claims Williams & Wilkins Company v. The United States 487 F.2d 1345
• March 8, 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Mazer v. Stein 347 U.S. 201
• December 22, 1952 U.S. Supreme Court F. W. Woolworth Co. v. Contemporary Arts, Inc. 344 U.S. 228
• December 23, 1918 U.S. Supreme Court International News Service v. Associated Press 248 U.S. 215
• 1914 U.S. District Court Massachusetts District Dodge MacMillan Co. v. King 223 F. 862
• 1903 U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Edward Thomson Co. v. American Lawbook Co. 122 F. 922
• February 2, 1903 U.S. Supreme Court Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co. 188 U.S. 239
• 1897 West Pub. Co. v. Lawyers’ Co-operative Pub. Co. 79 F. 756
• 1869 Massachusetts Circuit Court Laurence v. Dana 15 F. Cas. 26
• 1853 Stowe v. Thomas 23 F. Cas. 201
• 1845 Massachusetts Circuit Court Emerson v. Davies 8 F. Cas. 615 1841 Massachusetts Circuit Court Folsom v. Marsh 9 F. Cas. 342
• 1834 U.S. Supreme Court Wheaton v. Peters 33 U.S. 591