Legal Opinion
Mitchell Brothers Film Group and Jartech, Inc. v. Cinema Adult Theater, A/K/A Cinema 69
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Decided October 16, 1979No. 76-4251PublishedCited by 89 opinions
1Opinion of the Court
GODBOLD, Circuit Judge:
This is a copyright infringement suit, arising under the now-superseded Copyright Act of 1909. 1 But it is more than the usual commercial contest between copyright holder and alleged infringer. The infring-ers asserted as an affirmative defense that the copyrighted material — a movie — was obscene, and that, therefore, under the equitable rubric of “unclean hands” plaintiffs were barred from relief. After viewing the film the court found it obscene, adopted the unclean hands rationale, and denied relief to the copyright owners. Review of this holding requires us to…
2Cases cited54 opinions
- M'culloch v. State of MarylandSupreme Court of the United States · 1819
- Graham v. John Deere Co. of Kansas CitySupreme Court of the United States · 1966
- Miller v. CaliforniaSupreme Court of the United States · 1973
- Chaplinsky v. New HampshireSupreme Court of the United States · 1942
- Gibbons v. OgdenSupreme Court of the United States · 1824
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3Cited by89 opinions
- Original Appalachian Artworks, Inc. v. Toy Loft, Inc.Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 1982
- Lasercomb America, Inc. v. Job Reynolds Larry Holliday, and Holiday Steel Rule Die CorporationCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 1990
- Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. DoeCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 2018
- Dream Games of Arizona, Inc. v. PC ONSITECourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 2009
- Atari Games Corp. And Tengen, Inc. v. Nintendo of America Inc. And Nintendo Co., Ltd.Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit · 1992
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