Anderson's Business Law and the Legal Environment 20th Edition by David Twomey,Marianne Jennings

Exercise 5

Sony Corporation manufactures videocassette recorders (VCRs) to tape television shows for later home viewing (time-shifting). Sony sold them under the trade name Betamax through retail establishments. throughout the country. Universal City Studios and Walt Disney Productions owned the copyrights on some of the television programs that were broadcast on public. airwaves. Universal and Disney brought an action against Sony and certain large retailers contending that VCR consumers had recorded some of their copyrighted works that had been shown on commercially sponsored television and thereby infringed the copyrights. These plaintiffs sought damages and an injunction against the manufacture and marketing of VCRs. Sony contended that the noncommercial, home-use recording of material broadcast over public airwaves for later viewing was a fair use of copyrighted works. Decide. [ Sony Corp. v Universal Studios, 464 US 417]