Mazer v. Stein

Mazer v. Stein
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 3, 1953 Decided March 8, 1954
Full case name	Mazer v. Stein
Citations	347 U.S. 201 (more) 74 S.Ct. 460. 98 L.Ed. 630
Prior history	Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Holding
Copyright may extend to mass-produced items, even though just the aesthetic form, not the mechanical or utilitarian aspects.
Court membership
Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices Hugo Black · Stanley F. Reed Felix Frankfurter · William O. Douglas Robert H. Jackson · Harold H. Burton Tom C. Clark · Sherman Minton
Case opinions
Majority	Reed, joined by Warren, Frankfurter, Jackson, Burton, Clark, Minton
Concurrence	Douglas, joined by Black

Mazer v. Stein, 347 U.S. 201 (1954), was a copyright case decided by the United States Supreme Court. In an opinion written by Justice Stanley F. Reed, the Supreme Court held that the statuettes—male and female dancing figures made of semivitreous china—used as bases for fully equipped electric lamps were copyrightable, even though the lamp itself was a utilitarian mass-produced item.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 347
• Idea–expression divide

Further reading

• Handler, S. P. (1971). "Copyright Protection for Mass-Produced, Commercial Products: A Review of the Developments Following Mazer v. Stein". University of Chicago Law Review 38 (4): 807–825. JSTOR 1598873. 
• Hauhart, Robert C. (1983). "The Eternal Wavering Line – The Continuing Saga of Mazer v. Stein". Hamline L. Rev. 6: 95. 
• Latman, Alan (1968). "Fifteen Years after Mazer v. Stein: A Brief Perspective". Bull. Copyright Soc'y U.S.A. 16: 278.