The NRA sent short letters to its members urging opposition to two gun control bills pending before the Ohio legislature. Attached to each newsletter was a three-page listing of Ohio state legislators. HCF sent out a newsletter supporting the same House bill the NRA opposed. Pages eight and nine of the newsletter contain a two-page list of Ohio representatives, which HCF photocopied from one of the NRA mailings. The NRA filed a complaint alleging copyright infringement of the compilation of information concerning the members of the Ohio legislature. The District Court ruled that the NRA could not copyright the three-page list of Ohio legislators at issue. The Circuit Court affirmed, holding that HCF had made fair use of the list under the copyright statutes and therefore could not be held liable.

View "National Rifle Ass’n of America v. Handgun Control Fed’n" on Justia Law