Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co.
Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States establishing that information alone without a minimum of original creativity cannot be protected by copyright. In the case appealed, Feist had copied information from Rural's telephone listings to include in its own, after Rural had refused to license the information. Rural sued for copyright infringement. The Court ruled that information contained in Rural's phone directory was not copyrightable and that therefore no infringement existed.
| Feist v. Rural | |
|---|---|
Supreme Court of the United States | |
| Argued January 9, 1991 Decided March 27, 1991 | |
| Full case name | Feist Publications, Incorporated v. Rural Telephone Service Company, Incorporated |
| Citations | 499 U.S. 340 (more) |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Summary judgment for plaintiff, 663 F. Supp. 214 (D. Kan. 1987); affirmed, 916 F.2d 718 (10th Cir. 1990); affirmed, full opinion at 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 25881 (10th Cir. 1990); cert. granted, 498 U.S. 808 (1990). |
| Holding | |
| The white pages of a telephone book did not satisfy the minimum originality required by the Constitution to be eligible for copyright protection, and effort and expenditure of resources are not protected by copyright. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | O'Connor, joined by Rehnquist, White, Marshall, Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter |
| Concurrence | Blackmun |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. Art. I § 8 | |
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