The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has reversed a
district court ruling awarding statutory copyright damages for
pre-registration infringements, explaining that the statute bars
such an award even when the post-registration infringement of
exclusive rights of the copyright holder is different from the
pre-registration act(s). Southern Credentialing Support
Services, LLC v. Hammond Surgical Hospital, LLC, Case No.
18-31160 (5th Cir. Jan. 9, 2020) (Costa, J.). This case analyzes
§ 412 of the US Copyright Act, which bars an award of
statutory damages for infringements commenced prior to registration
of a copyright.
Credentialing is a process doctors must complete to practice at
hospitals, and credentialing service providers verify the
information doctors provide. Southern Credentialing Support
Services (SCSS) began providing credentialing services to Hammond
in 2010, and designed two packets of custom forms for credentialing
uses by Hammond. After SCSS
