The Supreme Court Resolves a Circuit Split on the Registration Requirement for a Copyright Suit

The Supreme Court ruled against copyright owners this week in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, No. 17-571 (Mar. 4, 2019), holding that, for purposes of the statutory requirement that a party suing for copyright infringement must show that the copyright has been registered, “registration” means that the Copyright Office has actually granted the registration.  The decision resolves a split in the Circuit Courts of Appeals, some of which had held that the mere act of filing for registration was sufficient to meet the registration requirement.  The court showed little interest in possible policy justifications for the more lenient interpretation, an interpretation known as the “application approach,” and instead adhered to a purely textual analysis of the statute. The text in question in Fourth Estate was 17 U.S.C. Sec. 411(a).  While copyright registration is generally voluntary, under section 411 it is a mandatory…

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