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Universal brought an action against Sony alleging that video tape recorder (VTRs) consumers had been recording some of Universal’s copyrighted works that had been exhibited on commercially sponsored television and thereby infringed on their copyrights, and further that Sony was liable for such copyright infringement because of their marketing of the VTRs. The Supreme Court held that "the sale of the VTR's to the general public does not constitute contributory infringement of Universal's copyrights." The Court concluded that there was a significant likelihood that a substantial number of copyright holders who license their works for free public broadcasts would not object to having their broadcasts time-shifted by private viewers and that Universal failed to show that time-shifting would cause non-minimal harm to the...

(1) Section 5(4) lists the acts restricted by copyright law with regard to a literary, dramatic or musical work. These restrictions entail “reproducing the work in any material form, publishing the work, performing the work in public, broadcasting the work, causing the work to be transmitted to subscribers to a diffusion service and making any adaption of the work.” (2) Section 57 makes anyone found guilty under the Copyright Act liable to the payment of a fine. (3) Section 58(3) states that “…no copyright or right in the nature of copy right shall subsist otherwise than by virtue of this Act or some other enactment in that behalf.”