Sony Corporation of America et al. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., et al.

Decided January 17, 1984. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 81-1687 · 464 U.S. 417 (1984) · Cited 978 times

Holding

The sale of the VTR's to the general public does not constitute contributory infringement of respondents' copyrights.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC CORP. Et Al. v. AIKEN · 422 U.S. 151 (1975)
• Fox Film Corp. v. Doyal · 286 U.S. 123 (1932)
• Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc. · 392 U.S. 390 (1968)
• Dawson Chemical Co. v. Rohm & Haas Co. · 448 U.S. 176 (1980)
• Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc. · 456 U.S. 844 (1982)
• Kalem Co. v. Harper Brothers · 222 U.S. 55 (1911)
• United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. · 334 U.S. 131 (1948)
• White-Smith Music Publishing Co. v. Apollo Co. · 209 U.S. 1 (1908)
• Mazer v. Stein · 347 U.S. 201 (1954)
• Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Manufacturing Co. · 243 U.S. 502 (1917)
• Henry v. A. B. Dick Co. · 224 U.S. 1 (1912)
• Wheaton and Donaldson v. Peters and Grigg · 33 U.S. 591 (1834)
• Deepsouth Packing Co. v. Laitram Corp. · 406 U.S. 518 (1972)
• Buck v. Jewell-LaSalle Realty Co. · 283 U.S. 191 (1931)
• Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. · 441 U.S. 1 (1979)
• United Drug Co. v. Theodore Rectanus Co. · 248 U.S. 90 (1918)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• United States v. Steffens · 100 U.S. 82 (1879)
• Canal Co. v. Clark · 80 U.S. 311 (1872)
• Carbice Corp. of America v. American Patents Development Corp. · 283 U.S. 27 (1931)
• International Business MacHines Corp. v. United States · 298 U.S. 131 (1936)
• Kendall v. Winsor · 62 U.S. 322 (1859)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. · 545 U.S. 913 (2005)
• Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises · 471 U.S. 539 (1985)
• Eldred v. Ashcroft · 537 U.S. 186 (2003)
• Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. · 510 U.S. 569 (1994)
• Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith · 598 U.S. 508 (2023)
• Impression Products, Inc. v. Lexmark Int'l, Inc. · 581 U.S. 360 (2017)
• Dowling v. United States · 473 U.S. 207 (1985)
• Microsoft Corp. v. At&t Corp. · 550 U.S. 437 (2007)
• New York Times Co. v. Tasini · 533 U.S. 483 (2001)
• Georgia v. Public Resource.Org, Inc. · 590 U.S. 255 (2020)
• Stewart v. Abend · 495 U.S. 207 (1990)
• Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. · 593 U.S. 1 (2021)
• Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. · 510 U.S. 517 (1994)
• Professional Real Estate Investors, Inc. v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. · 508 U.S. 49 (1993)
• Regan v. Time, Inc. · 468 U.S. 641 (1984)
• Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp · 467 U.S. 691 (1984)
• Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder · 469 U.S. 153 (1985)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1984). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).