SCOTUS Seeks To Clarify Circuit Split Over Copyright
The U.S. Supreme Court is examining the question of when a copyright infringement suit can be filed – when the owner files the "paperwork" or after the Copyright Office approves the application. The split between the so-called "application approach" versus the "registration approach" can have a huge impact on copyright plaintiffs, where in one jurisdiction, suit can be brought immediately after an application is filed, and in another jurisdiction, the owner must wait for issuance of the registration. The Supreme Court granted a cert. petition in the case of Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC to address this issue. In its effort to seek clarification, the Court recently requested that the U.S. Solicitor General provide a brief expressing the U.S. government's views on the matter. A deadline for the brief has not been set, so the timeframe for the Court's decision is unknown.
