On June 28, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for writ of certiorari in Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC. The justices took up the case to resolve a split in the circuits surrounding the definition of “registration” within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. §411(a), the copyright infringement statute. Currently, the Fifth and Ninth Circuits Courts of Appeal define registration when the copyright holder has filed the application, deposit, and fee with the U.S. Copyright Office. However, the Tenth and Eleventh Circuits define registration when the Copyright Office has acted upon the application, either through registration or rejection. This issue has some practical relevance because it can affect if a copyright owner can file a federal infringement suit or not, depending on the circuit.
Petitioner Fourth Estate, in its petition, argued that certiorari was necessary to resolve the splits in the circuits, and by extension, to resolve enforcement rights of the copyright holder in a federal court. Specifically, this circuit split in the definition of “registration” eliminates the ability of some copyright holders to sue in federal court, while others can. Respondent Wall-Street.com argued in its opposition that the issue presented by the petition was hypothetically small, because most copyright holders do not wait to file their copyright applications so late into the limitations period. The statute of limitations for filing a federal copyright infringement action is three years after the claim (17 U.S.C. §507(b)).
This case is important for the pratical consideration of providing consistency amongst the federal circuits as to when a copyright holder can bring an action in federal court, either once the copyright application and all formalities have been filed, or only after the work has been registered at the Copyright Office.
Oral arguments should be sometime in the Fall 2018, with a ruling sometime in 2019.