No Declaratory Judgment For Unregistered Copyright

Addressing issues of subject matter jurisdiction in a copyright-based declaratory judgment action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found a lack of subject matter jurisdiction where there was no registered copyright in dispute. Stuart Weitzman LLC v. Microcomputer Resources, Inc., Case No. 07-12998 (11th Cir., Sept. 12, 2008) (Anderson, J.).

Plaintiff Stuart Weitzman LLC is a designer and seller of women's shoes. Weitzman contracted, through an oral agreement, for Microcomputer Resources, Inc. (MRI) to create software to manage Weitzman's distribution. Weitzman later orally contracted with MRI to create a custom software program, which both parties agree was created and owned by MRI, even though MRI never registered the copyright. After the relationship between the parties deteriorated, MRI told Weitzman it was no longer entitled to the use or possession of the software source code, although it was still entitled to use the software.