Haynes Boone Partner Jason Bloom talked with Westlaw Today about the potential ramifications from a SCOTUS ruling on the validity of copyright applications that include unintentional mistakes.
Below is an excerpt:
From what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said while grilling clothing chain H&M and its opponent, fabric designer Unicolors Inc., during oral argument of their copyright registration dispute, expect a win for error-prone copyright holders, attorneys say.
Unicolors Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz LP, No. 20-915, oral argument held (U.S. Nov. 8, 2021).
The Nov. 8 arguments centered on Section 411(b) of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.A. § 411(b), which permits registration "regardless of whether the certificate contains any inaccurate information" unless certain exceptions apply. . .
Jason Bloom, partner and head of the copyright practice group at Haynes Boone LLP, said the Supreme Court's decision will not result in many copyrights being invalidated due to minor inaccuracies.
"Regardless of the proper test for assessing knowledge, courts will still be permitted to invalidate copyrights when even innocent mistakes result in a material inaccuracy that resulted in a registration that should not have been issued," Bloom said.
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