2019 United States Supreme Court case
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com Argued January 8, 2019 Full case name Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation, Petitioner v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, et al. Docket no. 17-571 Citations 586U.S. ___ (more Case history Prior Motion to dismiss granted,No. 0:16-cv-60497 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 23, 2016); affirmed, 856F.3d 1338 , 122U.S.P.Q.2d 1586 (11th Cir. 2017);cert . granted, 138 S. Ct. 2707 (2018). Holding A registration certificate must be provided before a lawsuit can be filed. Court membership Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh Case opinion Majority Ginsburg, joined byunanimous
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court unanimously ruled that acopyright infringement suit must wait until thecopyright is successfullyregistered by theUnited States Copyright Office .[ 1]
While theCopyright Act of 1976 grants automatic copyright privileges to an author when it is published to the public, the Act also requires "registration" of that copyright with the Copyright Office before bringing an infringement suit if the author is American.[ 2] circuit courts , such as theEleventh andTenth , held that is considered registered upon the copyright's approval by the Copyright Office, known as the "registration approach." Others, including theNinth andFifth Circuits, held that registration occurs upon the application for registration, with the associateddeposit and fee; this was known as the "application approach."[ 1] [ 3]
Fourth Estate wrote articles and licensed them for publication by other entities. One of their clients, Wall-Street.com, cancelled their licensing arrangement, and the license required Wall-Street.com to remove the content from their site, which they refused to do. Fourth Estate sued for copyright infringement, after having submitted their application for registration but without having waited for the registration to be approved. TheUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [ 4] [ 5] [ 6]
The case was grantedcertiorari [ 7] [ 8] [ 9]
Fourth Estate contended that the Eleventh Circuit misread the statute, and believed that the requirement of "registration" refers to the action of the copyright holder, and not an action of the Copyright Office. Further, they contended normatively that a copyright holder's rights should not depend upon affirmative government action.[ 1]
The court ruled on March 4, 2019, that a registration certificate must be provided before a lawsuit can be filed.[ 10] [ 11]
Comments on the decision [ edit ] It has been observed by one commentator that a decision in Fourth Estate's favor would essentially remove the Copyright Office's role in the process of moving copyright infringement cases to litigation,[ 1] [ 12]
Others have observed that the practical effect is minimal, since although the turnaround time for a registration with the Copyright Office can be months at a time, the Office offers an $800 expedited review process for cases with "compelling needs" like upcoming lawsuits,[ 3] [ 11] [ 11]
The decision applies only to filing copyright litigation, and does not apply to other forms of enforcement, such as sending demand letters or issuing DMCA Section 512 takedown notices.
^a b c d Pottinger, Nicole E. (July 20, 2018)."A (Brief) Overview of Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-Street.com, LLC" .Kentucky Law Journal . RetrievedJuly 27, 2018 . ^ 17 U.S.C. § 412 ^a b Wharton, Jake (June 28, 2018)."Supreme Court to Resolve Copyright Registration Circuit Split" .IPWatchdog.com . RetrievedJuly 27, 2018 . ^ Wall-Street.Com and Burden were represented by attorney David A. Geller at the Trial Court and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. ^ Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com 856 F.3d 1338 (11th Cir. 2017).^ McCall, Angélique (July 22, 2018)."US Supreme Court Tackles Copyright Registration Circuit Split" .IPWatchdog.com . RetrievedJuly 24, 2018 . ^ Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com ^ "US Supreme Court Grants Review for Certiorari in Fourth Estate v Wall-Street" .Fourth Estate . June 28, 2018. RetrievedJuly 30, 2018 .^ "U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review in Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com, Peter Stris to Argue" .Stris & Maher LLP . June 28, 2018. RetrievedJuly 27, 2018 .^ Ernesto (March 5, 2019)."Rightsholders Can't Sue Without a Copyright Certificate, Supreme Court Rules" .TorrentFreak . Archived fromthe original on March 5, 2019. RetrievedMarch 5, 2019 . ^a b c Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com , No.17-571 ,586 U.S. ___ (2019).^ Jessica Litman ,"Argument analysis: Justices wade deep into the copyright weeds" ,SCOTUSBlog , Jan. 9, 2019.
Dormant Commerce Clause Brown v. Maryland Willson v. Black-Bird Creek Marsh Co. Cooley v. Board of Wardens Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois Swift & Co. v. United States George W. Bush & Sons Co. v. Malloy Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc. Edwards v. California Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison Miller Bros. Co. v. Maryland Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc. National Bellas Hess v. Illinois Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc. Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp. Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Commission City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland Reeves, Inc. v. Stake Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas White v. Mass. Council of Construction Employers South-Central Timber Development, Inc. v. Wunnicke Maine v. Taylor Healy v. Beer Institute, Inc. Quill Corp. v. North Dakota Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Oregon C&A Carbone, Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy Granholm v. Heald United Haulers Ass'n v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority Department of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn. v. Thomas National Pork Producers Council v. Ross Others
Copyright Act of 1790 Patent Act of 1793 Patent infringement case lawPatentability case lawCopyright Act of 1831 Copyright Act of 1870 Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 International Copyright Act of 1891 Copyright Act of 1909 Patent misuse case lawClayton Antitrust Act of 1914 Lanham Act Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc. San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc. Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Products Co. College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc. Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc. Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. POM Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co. Matal v. Tam Iancu v. Brunetti Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc. Copyright Act of 1976 Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid Stewart v. Abend Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co. Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc. Quality King Distributors Inc., v. L'anza Research International Inc. Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. New York Times Co. v. Tasini Eldred v. Ashcroft MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick Golan v. Holder Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. American Broadcasting Cos., Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc. Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com Rimini Street Inc. v. Oracle USA Inc. Allen v. Cooper Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. Othercopyright cases Otherpatent cases Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co. Minerals Separation, Ltd. v. Hyde United States v. General Electric Co. United States v. Univis Lens Co. Altvater v. Freeman Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp. Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp. Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co. v. Linde Air Products Co. Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co. Compco Corp. v. Day-Brite Lighting, Inc. Wilbur-Ellis Co. v. Kuther Brulotte v. Thys Co. Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp. Graham v. John Deere Co. United States v. Adams Brenner v. Manson Lear, Inc. v. Adkins Anderson's-Black Rock, Inc. v. Pavement Salvage Co. Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc. Gottschalk v. Benson United States v. Glaxo Group Ltd. Dann v. Johnston Sakraida v. Ag Pro Inc. Parker v. Flook Diamond v. Chakrabarty Diamond v. Diehr Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc. Eli Lilly & Co. v. Medtronic, Inc. Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chemical Co. Pfaff v. Wells Electronics, Inc. Dickinson v. Zurko Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank J. E. M. Ag Supply, Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co. Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc. LabCorp v. Metabolite, Inc. MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp. Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. Bilski v. Kappos Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A. Stanford University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Ltd. Partnership Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. Kappos v. Hyatt Bowman v. Monsanto Co. Gunn v. Minton Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. FTC v. Actavis, Inc. Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International Akamai Techs., Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc. Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC Peter v. NantKwest, Inc. Othertrademark cases
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Precedents
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