Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc.

Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc., 392 U.S. 390 (1968), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that receiving a television broadcast does not constitute a "performance" of a work.[1]

Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 13, 1968 Decided June 17, 1968
Full case name	Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc.
Citations	392 U.S. 390 (more) 88 S. Ct. 2084; 20 L. Ed. 2d 1176
Case history
Prior	377 F.2d 872 (2d Cir. 1967)
Holding
Receiving a television broadcast does not constitute a "performance" of a work.
Court membership
Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices Hugo Black · William O. Douglas John M. Harlan II · William J. Brennan Jr. Potter Stewart · Byron White Abe Fortas · Thurgood Marshall
Case opinions
Majority	Stewart, joined by Warren, Black, Brennan, White
Dissent	Fortas
Douglas, Marshall, and Harlan took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

In 1968, the United States Copyright Office called this case "the most important American copyright case of the 1960s."[2]

References

1. Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc., 392 U.S. 390 (1968).
2. Abraham L. Kaminstein. 71st Annual Report of the Register of Copyrights (PDF) (Report). United States Copyright Office. Retrieved 2018-08-19.

External links

• Text of Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc., 392 U.S. 390 (1968) is available from:  CourtListener  Justia  Library of Congress  Oyez (oral argument audio)