The Supreme Court Finally Resolves An Old, Vexing Question: Does "Registration" Mean "Registration"? Answer: "Yes."

In Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split decades in the making by holding that a copyright is not "registered" within the meaning of the Copyright Act unless and until a registration certificate actually has issued.

9 minute read April 01, 2019 at 12:09 AM
By
James A. Trigg and Bethany R. Nelson
The Supreme Court Finally Resolves An Old, Vexing Question: Does "Registration" Mean "Registration"? Answer: "Yes."

It is hard to imagine the current U.S. Supreme Court agreeing on something as simple as their lunch order in a time when 5-4 decisions feel like the norm. So, when it unanimously agrees, one might conclude that the question at hand was not very difficult.

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