Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc.

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Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc. - Wikipedia

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Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc.

Court	United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Full case name	Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc.
Decided	June 29, 1973
Docket nos.	73-cv-772
Citation	360 F. Supp. 821
Court membership
Judge sitting	Edward Raymond Neaher

Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc., 360 F. Supp. 821 (E.D.N.Y. 1973),^[1] was an important case before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York that concerned copyright infringement, which held that secondary persons or entities could be liable for that tort under certain circumstances, and is also called the "'make-a-tape' case".^[2]

The facts were that:

a record shop rented sound recordings to customers who would also purchase blank tape and then use a recording machine on the store premises to copy the rented recording onto the blank tape. The store owner's knowledge of the likely use of the blank tape was patent.
— Jane Ginsburg, Professor, Columbia Law School^[2]

Federal courts have held that secondary tort liability exists when:

enabling or inciting another to infringe, at least when the enabler knows that her conduct will result in infringement. Decisions dating back several decades recognize that one who supplies the means to infringe, and knows of the use to which the means will be put (or turns a blind eye), can be held liable for contributory infringement. In the early cases, however, the relationship between the supplier and the user of the means was sufficiently close, that there could be little doubt of either the knowledge or the nexus between the means and the infringement.
— Jane Ginsburg, Professor, Columbia Law School^[2]

Knowledge of the infringement of the copyright is the essential element that Elektra Records developed.

Impact

This case was used as a precedent for the US Supreme Court cases of Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 125 S. Ct. 2764 (1984) and MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 464 U.S. 417 (2005).^[2]

References

^ Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc., 360 F. Supp. 821 (E.D.N.Y. 1973).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jane Ginsburg, "Secondary Liability for Copyright Infringement in the U.S.: Anticipating the Aprés-Grokster", found at Secondary Liability for Copyright Infringement in the US, from Columbia Law School website Archived 2006-09-14 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 13, 2008.

External links

Text of Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc., 360 F. Supp. 821 (E.D.N.Y. 1973) is available from: Google Scholar Justia

Statutes

Pre-1976	Copyright Act of 1790 Copyright Act of 1831 Copyright Act of 1870 International Copyright Act of 1891 Printing Act of 1895 Copyright Act of 1909
1970s	Copyright Act of 1976
1980s	Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988
1990s	Visual Artists Rights Act (1990) Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (1990) Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 Audio Home Recording Act (1992) Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994) No Electronic Theft Act (1994) Copyright Term Extension Act (1998) Fairness in Music Licensing Act of 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act
2000s	Family Entertainment and Copyright Act (2005)
2010s	Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act (2014) Music Modernization Act (2018)
2020s	CASE Act (2020)

Precedents
and rulings

Supreme Court	Wheaton v. Peters (1834) Baker v. Selden (1879) Trade-Mark Cases (1879) Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony (1884) Banks v. Manchester (1888) Callaghan v. Myers (1888) Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus (1908) White-Smith Music Publishing Co. v. Apollo Co. (1908) Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States (1975) Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (1984) Feist v. Rural (1991) Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. (1994) Quality King v. L'anza (1998) Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003) MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. (2005) Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, S. A. (2010) Golan v. Holder (2012) Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2013) American Broadcasting Cos., Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (2014) Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands (2017) Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com (2019) Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. (2020) Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. (2021) Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith (2023)
Appeals courts	Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc. (2d Cir. 1964) Roth Greeting Cards v. United Card Co. (9th Cir. 1970) Eltra Corp. v. Ringer (4th Cir. 1978) Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates (9th Cir. 1978) Midway Manufacturing Co. v. Artic International, Inc. (7th Cir. 1983) Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. (3d Cir. 1983) Fisher v. Dees (9th Cir. 1986) Whelan v. Jaslow (3d Cir. 1986) Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd. (5th Cir. 1988) Rogers v. Koons (2nd Cir. 1992) Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc. (2d Cir. 1992) American Geophysical Union v. Texaco, Inc. (2nd Cir. 1995) Dr. Seuss Enters., L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc.(9th Cir. 1997) Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc. (2d Cir. 1998) Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corp. (9th Cir. 2000) Nunez v. Caribbean Int'l News Corp. (1st Cir. 2000) A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. (9th Cir. 2001) Veeck v. Southern Building Code Congress Int'l (5th Cir. 2002) Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. (9th Cir. 2002 / 2003) In re Aimster Copyright Litigation (7th Cir. 2003) NXIVM Corp. v. Ross Institute (2d Cir. 2004) BMG Music v. Gonzalez (7th Cir. 2005) Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley, Ltd. (2nd Cir. 2006) Blanch v. Koons (2nd Cir. 2006) Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. (9th Cir. 2006) Cartoon Network, LP v. CSC Holdings, Inc. (2nd Cir. 2008) Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc. (9th Cir. 2010) Penguin Group (USA) Inc. v. American Buddha (2d Cir. 2011) Monge v. Maya Magazines, Inc. (9th Cir. 2012) Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. (2d Cir. 2012) Seltzer v. Green Day, Inc (9th Cir. 2013) Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. (2d Cir. 2015) Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. (9th Cir. 2015) Naruto v. Slater (9th Cir. 2018)
Lower courts	Folsom v. Marsh (C.C.D. Mass. 1841) Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc. (E.D.N.Y. 1973) Broderbund Software Inc. v. Unison World, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 1986) Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Frena (M.D. Fla. 1993) Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. (S.D.N.Y. 1999) RealNetworks, Inc. v. Streambox, Inc. (W.D. Wash. 2000) Mannion v. Coors Brewing Co. (S.D.N.Y. 2005) Arista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLC (S.D.N.Y. 2010) Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc. (S.D.N.Y. 2013) Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2015) Hachette v. Internet Archive (S.D.N.Y. 2023)

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