Goldstein v. California (1973)

Goldstein v. California (1973)

412 U.S. 546

California law prohibited unauthorized duplication of phonograph records, prerecorded tapes, and other forms of sound reproduction. Goldstein and the other petitioners were convicted under the act for duplicating popular recordings on tapes, incorporating those tapes into cartridges bearing the title of the original recording and the name of the performer, and then distributing these tapes to retail outlets for sale to the public. In appealing their convictions in the California courts, they claimed that the California law was preempted by the copyright clause of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 5) and by federal copyright statutes. After these appeals failed, they sought relief from the Supreme Court, which granted certiorari.

Opinion of the Court: Burger, Stewart, White, Powell, Rehnquist.

Dissenting opinions: Douglas, Brennan, Blackmun; Marshall, Brennan, Blackmun.

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioners’ attack on the constitutionality of § 653h has many facets. First, they contend that the statute establishes a state copyright of unlimited duration, and thus conflicts with Art. I, § 8, cl. 8, of the Constitution. Second, petitioners claim that the state statute interferes with the implementation of federal policies inherent in the federal copyright statutes.… According to petitioners, it was the intention of Congress … to establish a uniform law throughout the United States to protect original writings. As part of the federal scheme, it is urged that Congress intended to allow individuals to copy any work which was not protected by a federal copyright. Since § 653h effectively prohibits the copying of works which are not entitled to federal protection, petitioners contend that it conflicts directly with congressional policy and must fall under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Finally, petitioners argue that 17 U. S. C. § 2, which allows States to protect unpublished writings, does not authorize the challenged state provision; since the records which petitioners copied had previously been released to the public, petitioners contend that they had, under federal law, been published.…

Petitioners’ first argument rests on the premise that the state statute under which they were convicted lies beyond the powers which the States reserved in our federal system. If this is correct, petitioners must prevail, since the States cannot exercise a sovereign power which, under the Constitution, they have relinquished to the Federal Government for its exclusive exercise.…

Article I, § 8, cl. 8, of the Constitution gives to Congress the power—“To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.…”

… The objective of the Copyright Clause was clearly to facilitate the granting of rights national in scope.… Its purpose was described by James Madison in the Federalist [No. 43]: “The utility of this power will scarcely be questioned. The copyright of authors has been solemnly adjudged, in Great Britain, to be a right of common law. The right to useful inventions seems with equal reason to belong to the inventors. The public good fully coincides in both cases with the claims of individuals. The States cannot separately make effectual provision for either of the cases, and most of them have anticipated the decision of this point, by laws passed at the instance of Congress.”

The difficulty noted by Madison relates to the burden placed on an author or inventor who wishes to achieve protection in all States when no federal system of protection is available.… The national system which Madison supported eliminates the need for multiple applications and the expense and difficulty involved. In effect, it allows Congress to provide a reward greater in scope than any particular State may grant to promote progress in those fields which Congress determines are worthy of national action.

Although the Copyright Clause thus recognizes the potential benefits of a national system, it does not indicate that all writings are of national interest or that state legislation is, in all cases, unnecessary or precluded.…

… Since the subject matter to which the Copyright Clause is addressed may thus be of purely local importance and not worthy of national attention or protection, we cannot discern such an unyielding national interest as to require an inference that state power to grant copyrights has been relinquished to exclusive federal control.…

… Similarly, it is difficult to see how the concurrent exercise of the power to grant copyrights by Congress and the States will necessarily and inevitably lead to difficulty. At any time Congress determines that a particular category of “writing” is worthy of national protection and the incidental expenses of federal administration, federal copyright protection may be authorized.… However, where Congress determines that neither federal protection nor freedom from restraint is required by the national interest, it is at liberty to stay its hand entirely. Since state protection would not then conflict with federal action, total relinquishment of the States’ power to grant copyright protection cannot be inferred.…

Petitioners base an additional argument on the language of the Constitution. The California statute forbids individuals to appropriate recordings at any time after release. From this, petitioners argue that the State has created a copyright of unlimited duration, in violation of that portion of Art. I, § 8, cl. 8, which provides that copyrights may only be granted “for limited Times.” Read literally, the text of Art. I does not support petitioners’ position. Section 8 enumerates those powers which have been granted to Congress; whatever limitations have been appended to such powers can only be understood as a limit on congressional, and not state, action. Moreover, it is not clear that the dangers to which this limitation was addressed apply with equal force to both the Federal Government and the States. When Congress grants an exclusive right or monopoly, its effects are pervasive; no citizen or State may escape its reach. As we have noted, however, the exclusive right granted by a State is confined to its borders. Consequently, even when the right is unlimited in duration, any tendency to inhibit further progress in science or the arts is narrowly circumscribed. The challenged statute cannot be voided for lack of a durational limitation.…

Our conclusion that California did not surrender its power to issue copyrights does not end the inquiry. We must proceed to determine whether the challenged state statute is void under the Supremacy Clause.…

Petitioners contend that the actions taken by Congress in establishing federal copyright protection preclude the States from granting similar protection to recordings of musical performances. According to petitioners, Congress addressed the question of whether recordings of performances should be granted protection in 1909; Congress determined that any individual who was entitled to a copyright on an original musical composition should have the right to control to a limited extent the use of that composition on recordings, but that the record itself, and the performance which it was capable of reproducing were not worthy of such protection. In support of their claim, petitioners cite the House Report on the 1909 Act, which states: “It is not the intention of the committee to extend the right of copyright to the mechanical reproductions themselves, but only to give the composer or copyright proprietor the control, in accordance with the provisions of the bill, of the manufacture and use of such devices.” …

To interpret accurately Congress’ intended purpose in passing the 1909 Act and the meaning of the House Report petitioners cite, we must remember that our modern technology differs greatly from that which existed in 1909. The Act and the report should not be read as if they were written today, for to do so would inevitably distort their intended meaning; rather, we must read them against the background of 1909, in which they were written.…

… The section of the House Report cited by petitioners was intended only to establish the limits of the composer’s right; composers were to have no control over the recordings themselves. Nowhere does the report indicate that Congress considered records as anything but a component part of a machine, capable of reproducing an original composition or that Congress intended records, as renderings of original artistic performance, to be free from state control.

Petitioners’ argument does not rest entirely on the belief that Congress intended specifically to exempt recordings of performances from state control. Assuming that no such intention may be found, they argue that Congress so occupied the field of copyright protection as to pre-empt all comparable state action.… This assertion is based on the language of 17 U. S.C. §§ 4 and 5, and on this Court’s opinions in Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Stiffel Co. [1964], and Compco Corp. v. Day-Brite Lighting [1964].

Section 4 of the federal copyright laws provides: “The works for which copyright may be secured under this title shall include all the writings of an author.” …

Section 5, which lists specific categories of protected works, adds: “The above specifications shall not be held to limit the subject matter of copyright as defined in section 4 of this title.…” …

Since § 4 employs the constitutional term “writings,” it may be argued that Congress intended to exercise its authority over all works to which the constitutional provision might apply. However, in the more than 60 years which have elapsed since enactment of this provision, neither the Copyright Office, the courts, nor the Congress has so interpreted it.… In light of this consistent interpretation by the courts, the agency empowered to administer the copyright statutes, and Congress itself, we cannot agree that §§ 4 and 5 have the broad scope petitioners claim.

Sears and Compco, on which petitioners rely, do not support their position. In those cases, the question was whether a State could, under principles of a state unfair competition law, preclude the copying of mechanical configurations which did not possess the qualities required for the granting of a federal design or mechanical patent.…

In regard to mechanical configurations, Congress had balanced the need to encourage innovation and originality of invention against the need to insure competition in the sale of identical or substantially identical products. The standards established for granting federal patent protection to machines thus indicated not only which articles in this particular category Congress wished to protect but which configurations it wished to remain free.… In regard to this category of “Writings,” Congress has drawn no balance; rather, it has left the area unattended, and no reason exists why the State should not be free to act.…

We conclude that the State of California has exercised a power which it retained under the Constitution, and that the challenged statute, as applied in this case, does not intrude into an area which Congress has, up to now, pre-empted.…

Affirmed.

MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL, with whom MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN and MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN join, dissenting.

… In my view, Congress has demonstrated its desire to exercise the full grant of constitutional power. Title 17 U. S. C. § 4, states: “The works for which copyright may be secured under this title shall include all the writings of an author” (emphasis added). The use of the constitutional terms “writings” and “author” rather strongly suggests that Congress intended to follow the constitutional grant. It could exercise the power given it by the Constitution in two ways: either by protecting all writings, or by protecting all writings within designated classes and leaving open to competition all writings in other classes. Section 5 shows that the latter course was chosen, for it enumerates various classes of works that may be registered. Ordinarily, the failure to enumerate “sound recordings” in § 5 would not be taken as an expression of Congress’ desire to let free competition reign in the reproduction of such recordings, for, because of the realities of the legislative process, it is generally difficult to infer from a failure to act any affirmative conclusions.… But in Sears and Compco … the Court determined that with respect to patents and copyrights, the ordinary practice was not to prevail. In view of the importance of not imposing unnecessary restraints on competition, the Court adopted in those cases a rule of construction that, unless the failure to provide patent or copyright protection for some class of works could clearly be shown to reflect a judgment that state regulation was permitted, the silence of Congress would be taken to reflect a judgment that free competition should prevail. I do not find … in the course of legislation sufficient evidence to convince me that Congress determined to permit state regulation of the reproduction of sound recordings. For, whenever technological advances made extension of copyright protection seem wise, Congress has acted promptly.… This seems to me to reflect the same judgment that the Court found in Sears and Compco: Congress has decided that free competition should be the general rule, until it is convinced that the failure to provide copyright or patent protection is hindering “the Progress of Science and useful Arts.”