Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC

Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp., a news organization, sued Wall-Street.com, LLC for copyright infringement after the defendant failed to remove licensed articles upon termination of their agreement. Fourth Estate had filed registration applications with the U.S. Copyright Office but had not yet received completed registrations. The district court dismissed the suit, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, holding that the Copyright Act requires actual registration, not merely an application, before filing suit. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a circuit split. In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Court held that under 17 U.S.C. § 411(a), “registration has been made” when the Copyright Office fully registers the copyright or refuses registration, not when the application is filed.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the Eleventh Circuit’s decision, holding that a copyright owner may not file an infringement suit until the Copyright Office has completed its registration process and either registered the work or formally refused to do so. Mere submission of an application is insufficient.

Whether the registration prerequisite under Section 411(a) of the Copyright Act is satisfied when a copyright owner files an application for registration, or only when the Copyright Office has acted on that application by either issuing a certificate or officially refusing registration.

The decision resolved a deep circuit split and provided nationwide clarity on the timing of copyright lawsuits. It reinforced the administrative registration system by requiring actual completion of the registration process, which may delay enforcement but encourages early registration. Copyright owners must now plan for the processing time at the Copyright Office before pursuing infringement actions.