The Supreme Court Clarifies the Importance of Timing When Registering Original Works
{2 minutes to read} A copyright is the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute an original work of authorship, such as a photograph, song, book, work of art, etc. The copyright attaches upon the creation of the work. You don’t need a registration certificate to claim rights to a work. So, why bother registering the work with the US Copyright Office? Enforcement.
The Copyright Act provides that “no civil action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall be instituted until preregistration or registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title.”
Why did the Supreme Court get involved in interpreting this section of the Copyright Act? Because courts were interpreting this language in different ways. In some courts, copyright owners were permitted to bring a lawsuit as long as they had filed an application with the Copyright Office (versus having a registration in place).
The uncertainty around the law only benefited the lawyers.
In a recent case, Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, No. 17-571 (March 4, 2019), after many years of uncertainty and clients paying for junior associates to research the issue, the Supreme Court clarified that a copyright owner must secure a copyright registration before the owner can file a lawsuit.
So, while you can threaten a lawsuit without having registered your work, a threat coupled with proof of a copyright registration will have a lot more bite.
For more information about copyright registration, please contact us at info@trademark-counsel.com.
Kelly Weiner
Trademark Counsel
Law Office of Kelly Weiner PLLC
175 Varick Street, Fl 6
New York, New York 10014
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