Supreme Court To Resolve Copyright Registration Circuit Split

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that should resolve the longstanding question of whether a plaintiff may bring a copyright infringement claim only after it has received a registration for copyright in the work allegedly infringed, or if it can bring the claim if it has merely filed an application to register the copyright (Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC). The circuit courts of appeal have long been split on the issue, which has generally been decided as follows: First¹ and Second² Circuits: undecided; Fifth,³ Eighth,⁴ and Ninth⁵ Circuits: application sufficient; Seventh Circuit⁶: conflicting case law; Tenth⁷ and Eleventh⁸ Circuits: registration required.