His rulings during his 35 years of service covered a broad range of issues, including the First Amendment, property rights to images of the Marx Brothers after their death, and songwriter royalties.
[1][2] During World War II, Conner served on a number of aircraft carriers in the United States Navy Reserve in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
[2] The nomination was made on the recommendation of Senator James L. Buckley of New York, who felt strongly that the court needed someone who had practical experience in patent and intellectual property law.
[2] Conner was known as the "ASCAP judge" for his role in administering the terms of a 1941 consent decree imposed against the American 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 Judge Harold 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 treat music downloads as performances; and a 2008 decision under which ASCAP would receive 2.5% of revenue from songs played online via streaming media rather than the 3% it had originally sought.