Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Sony Corp. of America

FERGUSON, District Judge.

Article I, § 8, Cl. 8 of the United States Constitution empowers Congress: “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.” The Copyright Act passed by Congress in 1909 and revised in 1976 gives authors exclusive rights over some but not all uses of their works. As the Supreme Court wrote in Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken, 422 U.S. 151, 156, 95 S.Ct. 2040, 2044, 45 L.Ed.2d 84 (1974):

The limited scope of the copyright holder’s statutory…