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How Judges Are Interpreting Supreme Court's Copyright 'Registration' Ruling

By Stan Soocher
January 01, 2020

In March 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court held that, under 17 U.S.C. §411(a), "registration occurs, and a copyright claimant may commence an infringement suit, when the Copyright Office registers a copyright" — that is, acts on a registration application, rather than when an applicant delivers the registration materials to the Copyright Office. Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC, 139 S. Ct. 881 (2019). The 9-0 Supreme Court majority opinion, by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, affirmed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and helped clarify the U.S. Copyright Act's use of the word "registration" that had split the federal circuits. But even with Fourth Estate, some questions remain.

This article examines how judges have been interpreting Fourth Estate since the Supreme Court handed down its decision almost a year ago.

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