2019 United States Supreme Court case
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court unanimously ruled that a copyright infringement suit must wait until the copyright is successfully registered by the United States Copyright Office .[ 1]
While the Copyright Act of 1976 grants automatic copyright privileges to an author when it is published to the public, the Act also requires "registration" of that copyright with the Copyright Office before bringing an infringement suit if the author is American.[ 2] circuit courts , such as the Eleventh and Tenth , held that is considered registered upon the copyright's approval by the Copyright Office, known as the "registration approach." Others, including the Ninth and Fifth Circuits, held that registration occurs upon the application for registration, with the associated deposit and fee; this was known as the "application approach."[ 1] [ 3]
Fourth Estate wrote articles and licensed them for publication by other entities. One of their clients, Wall-Street.com, cancelled their licensing arrangement, and the license required Wall-Street.com to remove the content from their site, which they refused to do. Fourth Estate sued for copyright infringement, after having submitted their application for registration but without having waited for the registration to be approved. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [ 4] [ 5] [ 6]
The case was granted certiorari [ 7] [ 8] [ 9]
Fourth Estate contended that the Eleventh Circuit misread the statute, and believed that the requirement of "registration" refers to the action of the copyright holder, and not an action of the Copyright Office. Further, they contended normatively that a copyright holder's rights should not depend upon affirmative government action.[ 1]
The court ruled on March 4, 2019, that a registration certificate must be provided before a lawsuit can be filed.[ 10] [ 11]
It has been observed by one commentator that a decision in Fourth Estate's favor would essentially remove the Copyright Office's role in the process of moving copyright infringement cases to litigation,[ 1] [ 12]
Others have observed that the practical effect is minimal, since although the turnaround time for a registration with the Copyright Office can be months at a time, the Office offers an $800 expedited review process for cases with "compelling needs" like upcoming lawsuits,[ 3] [ 11] [ 11]
The decision applies only to filing copyright litigation, and does not apply to other forms of enforcement, such as sending demand letters or issuing DMCA Section 512 takedown notices.
^ a b c d Pottinger, Nicole E. (July 20, 2018). "A (Brief) Overview of Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-Street.com, LLC" . Kentucky Law Journal . Retrieved July 27, 2018 . ^ 17 U.S.C. § 412 ^ a b Wharton, Jake (June 28, 2018). "Supreme Court to Resolve Copyright Registration Circuit Split" . IPWatchdog.com . Retrieved July 27, 2018 . ^ Wall-Street.Com and Burden were represented by attorney David A. Geller at the Trial Court and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
^ Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com 856 F.3d 1338 (11th Cir. 2017).^ McCall, Angélique (July 22, 2018). "US Supreme Court Tackles Copyright Registration Circuit Split" . IPWatchdog.com . Retrieved July 24, 2018 . ^ Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com ^ "US Supreme Court Grants Review for Certiorari in Fourth Estate v Wall-Street" . Fourth Estate . June 28, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018 .^ "U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review in Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com, Peter Stris to Argue" . Stris & Maher LLP . June 28, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2018 .^ Ernesto (March 5, 2019). "Rightsholders Can't Sue Without a Copyright Certificate, Supreme Court Rules" . TorrentFreak . Archived from the original on March 5, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2019 . ^ a b c Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com , No. 17-571 , 586 U.S. ___ (2019).^ Jessica Litman , "Argument analysis: Justices wade deep into the copyright weeds" , SCOTUSBlog , Jan. 9, 2019.
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