SCOTUS: Inadvertent Mistake In Copyright Application Does Not Invalidate Registration

In Unicolors v. H&M, the U.S. Supreme Court held that "[l]ack of knowledge of either fact or law can excuse an inaccuracy in a copyright registration." Unicolors, a fabric designer, sued fast-fashion retailer H&M for selling allegedly infringing garments in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Unicolors' claims relied on a group copyright registration. Generally, group registration allows an applicant to pay a single fee and file one application covering multiple works if they are "included in the same unit of publication." Here, the 31 works covered by Unicolors' group registration were not published at the same time because they were made available to different customers at different times.