Home > List of leading legal cases in copyright 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.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z __NOTOC__
1 A
- Advent Sys. Ltd. v. Unisys Corp (1991) held that the sale of software is the sale of a good within the meaning of Uniform Commercial Code.
- Applied Info. Mgmt., Inc, v. Icart (1997) held that the sale of software is the sale of a good.
- Autodesk v Dyason (No.2) (1993) 176 CLR 300 (the idea-expression divide is the "dominant principle in copyright law" per Mason CJ: "when the expression of any idea is inseparable from its function, it forms part of the idea and is not entitled to the protection of copyright" per Dawson J)
2 B
- Bauer & Cie. v. O'Donnell (1913) US Supreme Court- Differences between patent and copyright defined also prohibits license to extend holders rights beyond statute.
- BMG Canada Inc. and others v. Doe and others 2004 FC 488 (comments regarding the legality of Internet file sharing under Canadian law (Canada))
- Bobbs-Merrill Co v. Straus (1908) US Supreme Court- No license to use copyrighted material. License cannot extend holders rights beyond statute defined by Congress.
- Bridgeman Art Library Ltd. v. Corel Corporation, 36 F. Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) photograph of public domain work is not original([1])
3 C
- Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, 510 U.S. 569 (1994) (commercial parody is 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) (USA)]
- CBS Records v. Gross (1989) 15 IPR 385 (a cover version of a song can be an original work itself capable of copyright protection (Aus.))
- CCH Canada Ltd v. Law Society of Canada 2004 SCC 13 (established that setting up the facilities that allow copying does not amount to authorizing infringement (Canada))
- Computer Edge Pty Ltd v Apple Computer Inc (1986) 161 CLR 171 (test in Exxon for literary work is "not intended to establish a comprehensive or exhasutive definition of literary work for copyright purposes" per Mason and Wilson JJ (Aus.))
- Corelli v. Grey (1913) 29 TLR 570 (four reasons for clear objective similarity between works)
- Cuisenaire v Reed [1963] VR 719 (a literary work cannot be infringed by a three-dimensional reproduction (Aus.))
4 D
- Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. (2002) (proper citation needed here and in article) (attempt to use trademark to keep rights to a public domain work failed.)
- Dick v. Yates (1881) 18 Ch D 76 (a title is not long enough to consistute a literary work (U.K.)
- Re Dickens (1934) 1 Ch 267 (U.K.)
- Donahue v. Allied Newspapers Ltd (1938) Ch 106 [ " idea-expression divide" (U.K.)]
- Donaldson v Beckett (1774) 4 Burr 2408; 98 ER 257 (copyright is not perpetual (UK))
- Downriver Internists v. Harris Corp (1991) held that the sale of software is the sale of a good within the meaning of Uniform Commercial Code.
5 E
- Elanco v. Mandops [1979] FSR 46 (instructions on herbicide are a literary device (Aus.))
- Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. (1999) (US) 11th Cir. Ct of Appeals (giving public speech is not public domain publication under 1909 Act)
- Express Newspapers v. News (UK) Ltd (1990) 18 IPR 201 (confirming Walter v. Lane (UK))
- Exxon Corp v. Exxon Insurance Consultants InternationalExxon Corp v Exxon Insurance Consultants International [ 1981 ] 3 All ER 241, the name Exxon, while a trade mark is a word and as such cannot be copyrighted the use of this word by the defendants who work in a field that in no way shares a market segment (1981) 3 All ER 241 [Exxon name has no © (U.K.)]
