William Curtis Conner | |
|---|---|
| Senior Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York | |
| In office March 31, 1987 – July 9, 2009 | |
| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York | |
| In office December 19, 1973 – March 31, 1987 | |
| Appointed by | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Edmund Louis Palmieri |
| Succeeded by | Lawrence M. McKenna |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Curtis Conner (1920-03-27)March 27, 1920 Wichita Falls, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | July 9, 2009(2009-07-09) (aged 89) Bronxville, New York, U.S. |
| Education | University of Texas at Austin (BBA,LLB) |
William Curtis Conner (March 27, 1920 – July 9, 2009) was aUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York. His rulings during his 35 years of service covered a broad range of issues, including theFirst Amendment, property rights to images of theMarx Brothers after their death, and songwriter royalties.
Conner was born inWichita Falls,Texas, and attended theUniversity of Texas at Austin, graduating with aBachelor of Business Administration degree in 1941. He received hisBachelor of Laws from theUniversity of Texas School of Law in 1942.[1][2] DuringWorld War II, Conner served on a number of aircraft carriers in theUnited States Navy Reserve in thePacific Theater of Operations. After his military service, he joined aNew York City law firm with a focus on patent law. He was later named president of what became theNew York Intellectual Property Law Association.[1]
Conner was nominated by PresidentRichard Nixon on November 9, 1973, to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by JudgeEdmund Louis Palmieri.[2] The nomination was made on the recommendation ofSenatorJames L. Buckley of New York, who felt strongly that the court needed someone who had practical experience in patent andintellectual property law.[1] Conner was confirmed by the Senate on December 13, 1973, and received his commission on December 19, 1973.[2] He assumedsenior status on March 31, 1987, and relocated his chambers to the Southern District courthouse inWhite Plains, New York in 1995 to be closer to his home.[1][2] His service terminated on July 9, 2009, due to his death inBronxville, New York.[2]
Conner was known as the "ASCAP judge" for his role in administering the terms of a 1941consent decree imposed against theAmerican Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers as the result of an antitrust case involving claims that the organization had monopolized the licensing of popular music. Conner was assigned the case in the mid-1970s, taking over from JudgeHarold R. Tyler, Jr.[3] Among Conner's rulings in the case were his dismissal in the early 1990s of claims that jingle writers were being shortchanged; a 2004 ruling on an agreement covering payments from radio stations for music played on air that brought royalty recipients an estimated $1.7 billion in additional payments from 2001 to 2009; the rejection in 2007 of a request to treatmusic downloads as performances; and a 2008 decision under which ASCAP would receive 2.5% of revenue from songs played online viastreaming media rather than the 3% it had originally sought.[1][3]
In a 1981 decision later reversed by theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a case brought byHarpo Marx's widowSusan Fleming, Conner ruled that the producers ofA Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine had improperly used theMarx Brothers characters in theirBroadway theatre production and that thepublicity rights of the comedians, even after their deaths, overrode the First Amendment claims of the show's creators.[1] In April 1980, Conner had refused to issue apreliminary injunction and allowed producerAlexander H. Cohen to open the show as planned.[4]
In a May 1980 ruling, Conner decided that community organizations that placed fliers in personal mailboxes did not violate the law, holding that the organizations' First Amendment rights trumped a 1934 statute imposing a $300 fine for placing mailable material into a mailbox without postage. The organizations that challenged the ban claimed that the cost and delays of using the mail "barred them from effective communication", while theUnited States Postal Service contended that mailbox security would be lost and that mail carriers would have to waste time checking what's in mailboxes.[5]
In a case filed by a bank that lost $2 million that had been placed in baggage checked on a flight, Conner ruled thatEastern Airlines was responsible only for paying $634.90 for the lost money, charged at the standard rate of $9.07 per pound for lost luggage under the terms of theWarsaw Convention.[1]
A resident ofDobbs Ferry, New York, Conner died at age 89 inBronxville, New York. He was survived by his wife, a daughter, three sons and six grandchildren.[1]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York 1973–1987 | Succeeded by |