Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co.

ABSTRACT The Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. (499 U.S. 340) is a landmark judgment that was rendered by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1991, which helped to reshape the standards in the area of copyright laws. The dispute between the parties was whether copyright laws protect the labour involved in collecting information or the creativity in how it is presented.
For years, courts operated under the “sweat of the brow” doctrine, which provided protection for the time and money spent in compiling data. When Feist Publications copied listings from Rural Telephone Service’s directory, a legal dispute arose that eventually came before the Supreme Court of the United States.