Twentieth Century’s copyrighted songs were received on the radio in Aiken’s food shop from a local broadcasting station, which was licensed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers to perform the songs, but Aiken had no such license. Twentieth Century then sued Aiken for copyright infringement. The Supreme Court held that Aiken did not infringe upon Twentieth Century’s exclusive right, under the Copyright Act, “[t]o perform the copyrighted work publicly for profit,” since the radio reception did not constitute a “performance” of the copyrighted songs.
View "Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken" on the Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center