C. Elvin Feltner, JR. v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (523 U.S. 340)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 31, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 523 U.S. 340 · 118 S. Ct. 1279
- Decided
- March 31, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- Federal law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 504(e) of the Copyright Act of 1976 permits a copyright owner “to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages ..., in a sum of not less than $500 or more than $20,000 as the court considers just.” 90Stat. 2585, as amended, 17 U. S. C. § 504(c)(1). In this case, we consider whether § 504(e) or the Seventh Amendment grants a right to a jury trial when a copyright owner elects to recover statutory damages. We hold that although the statute is silent on the point, the Seventh Amendment provides a right to a jury trial, which includes a right to a jury determination of the amount of statutory damages. We therefore reverse. I Petitioner C. Elvin Feltner owns Krypton International Corporation, which in 1990 acquired three television stations in the southeastern United States. Respondent Columbia Pictures Television, Inc., had licensed several television series to these stations, including “Who’s the Boss,” “Silver Spoons,” “Hart to Hart,” and “T. J. Hooker.” After the stations became delinquent in making their royalty payments to Columbia, Krypton and Columbia entered into negotiations to restructure the stations’ debt. These discussions were unavailing, and Columbia terminated the stations’ license agreements in October 1991. Despite Columbia’s termination, the stations continued…
Excerpt of a 27,506-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.