Copyright Clarity from the Supreme Court

For years, copyright owners have faced uncertainty as to when they could file a copyright infringement claim. Title 17 U.S.C. § 411(a) states that “no civil action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall be instituted until … registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title.” Courts had been split as to whether this required an issued registration before suit (the “registration approach”), or whether just the act of filing a copyright application satisfied this requirement (the “application approach”).

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved that question, holding that “registration” occurs, and a copyright claimant may commence an infringement suit, when the Copyright Office registers a copyright. This can mean long delays before filing, as the current administrative backlog at the Copyright Office has resulted in processing times of seven months on average. It also has encouraged many current litigants to withdraw pending lawsuits that had been based on the application approach precedent – including for example the wave of copyright infringement lawsuits filed against the video games Fortnite and NBA2K over dances included in those games.

The most important takeaway from this decision is for copyright owners to register their works early. Expedited application processing is still available through the “special handling” process, but only in certain situations and at a cost of $800 per claim. The Supreme Court also made a point to highlight that the “registration approach” would not deprive owners of substantive rights, because they can still recover damages for infringement that occurred both before and after registration. Early registration can avoid both of these issues and ensure a copyright owner’s ability to promptly bring litigation when the need arises.