Benny v. Loew's Incorporated

239 F.2d 532 (1956)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
B
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Benny v. Loew’s Incorporated

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
239 F.2d 532 (1956)

Facts

In 1941, a play written by Patrick Hamilton, an English author, was produced in New York. In 1942, Loew’s Incorporated (plaintiff) obtained the exclusive motion-picture rights to the play and thereafter produced and exhibited a motion picture based on the play. In 1952, Columbia Broadcasting System (Columbia) (defendant) wrote and produced a parody of the play as a television show, starring Jack Benny (defendant) in the leading role. The television show was largely based on the play, and very little original content was added. Neither Benny nor Columbia had obtained Loew’s consent to produce the television show. Loew’s ultimately filed a copyright-infringement suit against Benny and Columbia in district court. Benny and Columbia argued that the production of the television show was a fair use of Loew’s copyrighted play because they had the right to make a parody. Lowe’s asserted that the fair-use defense did not justify copying of a substantial portion of the copyrighted work, regardless of whether the resulting copy was a parody. The district court agreed with Loew’s and found that Benny and Columbia had infringed Loew’s rights in the copyright. Benny and Columbia appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (McAllister, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 810,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Copyright Law

Key Terms