Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Jason Bloom was quoted in a Westlaw Journal Intellectual Property article about a pending U.S. Supreme Court case that will decide whether the U.S. Copyright Office must issue a registration certificate before a copyright suit can be filed.
Here is an excerpt:
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Fourth Estate’s copyright suit against online news service Wall-Street.com because the works in question had not gone through the registration process. Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC, 856 F.3d 1338 (11th Cir. May 18, 2017).
Wall-Street.com told the justices at oral argument that the text of Section 411 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.A. § 411, makes that clear when it says: “The register of copyrights must make a registration determination before an applicant can sue for infringement.”
Some lawyers predict the high court will side with Fourth Estate.
Jason Bloom from the Dallas office of Haynes and Boone, LLP offered that same prediction.
“The justices did seem interested in the practical and policy justifications for the application approach, including that the registration approach makes little practical sense given the fact that more than 97 percent of applications are granted and a copyright claimant can sue whether an application is granted or denied,” he said.
To read the full article, click here. (Subscription required)