United States v. Raymond Joseph Atherton

Atherton appeals from his conviction upon five counts of an indictment charging him with copyright infringement in violation of 17 U.S.C. § 104 and one count charging him with interstate transportation of stolen property in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314 . He challenges the constitutionality of 17 U.S.C. § 104 , contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction, and argues that the court improperly excluded evidence. We uphold the constitutionality of Section 104, following United States v. Wise (9th Cir. 1977) 550 F.2d 1180 , and reverse the conviction for insufficiency of the evidence.

Atherton bought, sold, collected prints of motion pictures. He advertised films for sale in catalogues. His customers were primarily motion picture collectors and dealers. The photoplays which are the subject of the copyright counts are “The Exorcist,” “Airport,” “The Way We Were,” “Forty Carats,” and “Young Winston.” The copyrights were owned by Universal Studios (“Airport”), Columbia Pictures (“The Way We Were,” “Young Winston,” “Forty Carats”), and Warner Bros. (“The Exorcist”). Atherton had no license or any kind of permission from the copyright holders to use or sell the…