COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION

Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC

Issues

Has registration of a copyright claim “been made” under the Copyright Act when the copyright holder delivers the required application, deposit, and fee to the Copyright Office, or is it made only after the Copyright Office acts on that application?

This case asks the Supreme Court to determine the prerequisites for suing to enforce copyright and asks whether a copyright owners can sue after submitting the registration application to the Copyright Office, or if they must wait until after the Copyright Office acts on the application. Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation argues that the language, structure, and history of the Copyright Act require only that the copyright owner submit a registration application, deposit, and fee before suing for copyright infringement. Wall-Street.com, however, maintains that the Copyright Act unambiguously requires that the Copyright Office act on the registration application before the copyright owner can sue, and that a change in this law should be made by Congress rather than the Court. The outcome of this case will affect the ability of authors, artists, and other creators to protect their original works against copying, the means by which Congress obtains works and makes them publicly accessible, and the methods used by courts and litigants to resolve copyright infringement disputes.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

Whether “registration of [a] copyright claim has been made” within the meaning of § 411(a) when the copyright holder delivers the required application, deposit, and fee to the Copyright Office, as the Fifth and Ninth Circuits have held, or only once the Copyright Office acts on that application, as the Tenth Circuit and, in the decision below, the Eleventh Circuit have held.

Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation (“Fourth Estate”) is an organization that creates online news articles. Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com at 2. Fourth Estate owns copyright in the articles it produces and licenses those articles to other websites. Id.

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Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P.

Issues

Must copyright registration applications containing inaccuracies be referred to the Copyright Office when those inaccuracies show no indicia of fraud or material error related to the work at issue under the Copyright Act?

This case asks the Supreme Court to determine the precise meaning of the “knowledge” standard in the Copyright Act. Section 411 of the Copyright Act provides that a copyright registration is inadequate when it includes information that was included with “knowledge that it was inaccurate.” Petitioner Unicolors, Inc. (“Unicolors”) argues that Section 411’s “knowledge” requirement excludes mistakes that are made in good faith and without fraudulent intent. Respondent H&M (“H&M”) counters that the plain meaning of the word “knowledge” indicates that so long as a copyright registrant is aware of the inaccuracy of the information, it is immaterial whether they intended to defraud. This case has significant implications for principles of statutory interpretation, copyright law, and the direction of future copyright infringement litigation.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit erred in breaking with its own prior precedent and the findings of other circuits and the Copyright Office in holding that 17 U.S.C. § 411 requires referral to the Copyright Office where there is no indicia of fraud or material error as to the work at issue in the subject copyright registration.

Unicolors creates and copyrights artwork that it eventually prints and markets to garment manufacturers. Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. at 1196. Unicolors markets some of its designs to the general public by placing them in a public showroom.

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