SCOTUS: Copyright Owners Must Have a Valid Copyright Registration Before Filing an Infringement Laws
- Omar Landery
- Mar 8, 2019
- 2 min read
On Monday, March 4th, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a unanimous decision in the copyright infringement case Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com , where the Court held that a copyright owner cannot file an infringement lawsuit until the Copyright Office has registered the work in question.
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation (“Fourth Estate”), is an online news organization which licenses their work to other news organizations; in this case, Wall-Street.com.
Wall-Street canceled the license from Fourth Estate, and, contrary to the terms of the agreement, continued to display the articles produced by Fourth Estate on the Wall-Street website. Fourth Estate subsequently filed applications to register its articles with the Copyright Office, and filed suit against Wall-Street for copyright infringement.
“The Court’s ruling addresses a split among the circuit courts regarding when the pre-lawsuit registration required by 17 U.S.C. §411(a) actually occurs. Section 411(a) states that “no civil action for infringement of the copyright of any United States work shall be instituted until…registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title.” Circuit courts diverged on whether the statement “registration…has been made”, means:
(1) at the time a copyright owner submits the application, materials, and fee required for registration (the “Application Approach”); or
(2) only when the Copyright Office has reviewed and granted the registration (the “Registration Approach”).”
The Court found that the law focused not on the copyright applicant’s act of applying for registration, but on the action by the Copyright Office of registering, or refusing to register a copyright claim. The Court concluded that the “registration approach…reflects the only satisfactory reading of §411(a)’s text.”
The Court also presented restricted situations where a party may sue before registration. These circumstances include “work of a type vulnerable to pre-distribution infringement,” for example, movies or music.
If you have questions regarding copyrights, or understanding your rights under the new Supreme Court ruling, please contact us for a free consultation.
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