The US Supreme Court has ruled that creators can't sue someone for copyright infringement before they've obtained a copyright registration certificate. In a unanimous decision, Justice Ginsburg clarifies that applying for a copyright registration is not sufficient. Major copyright holders are not happy with the decision, but for some others it may offer hope.
In pretty much every part in the world, creators can claim copyright on their work without having to register anything. This is also true in the United States. However, when rightsholders want to sue someone for copyright infringement, they have to back up this claim. Over the years, US courts have issued mixed judgments on what kind of ‘proof’ is required. Some held that it’s enough when a creator applied for a registration certificate at the Copyright Office, while others required registration to be completed. This week the US Supreme Court put an end to the split decisions. In the case between Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation and Wall-Street.com, the Court unanimously decided that copyright holders must wait for a registration certificate before filing a lawsuit. The case in question dealt with news articles that were published without permission, but the outcome of the case will affect all future copyright cases. This ranges from potential pre-release movie and leaks to the thousands of copyright-trolling cases that are filed every year. The latter is particularly relevant as the majority of the copyright lawsuits are filed against alleged BitTorrent downloaders. The rightsholders that file these suits don’t always have a copyright registration certificate. Following the Supreme Court decision, several defense attorneys indicated that this decision may help their clients.
