Re: comment on copyright case?

On Mon, Apr 24, 2000, Laurie Urquiaga <urquiagal[_at_]lawgate.byu.edu> wrote:
>
> I haven't seen any commentary about this case:
>
> > Publisher's Copyright of Magazine Issue Won't Protect Individual Authors
> >
> > Copyright registration of an entire issue of a magazine does not
> > extend protection to the individual articles within the magazine,
> > a federal court in New York ruled. The U.S. District Court for
> > the Southern District of New York found that an author's failure
> > to obtain copyright registration of her columns left her without
> > a remedy for "abject and reprehensible" copying by another
> > publisher. (IP Law Weekly -- For complete story, see
> > http://www.lawnewsnetwork.com/stories/A21143-2000Apr13.html)
>
> Although I'm just a lowly 1L, it seems to me that the summary judgment
> order was wrong in this case. Failure to register copyright prohibits
> statutory damages, but isn't the copyright owner still entitled to
> actual and consequential damages? What's the point of the 1976 change
> removing the need to register if registration is still required for
> protection?

Ms. Urquiaga is right regarding the impact of early registration on election of damages. However, registration of copyright is a prerequisite to the filing of a copyright infringement action in the first place. Under US law, you cannot sue for infringement of an unregistered copyright. Instead of registering her own copyrights, as she should have, the plaintiff here tried to rely on the magazine publisher's registered compilation copyrights to meet the registration requirement. Her effort was unsuccessful, because she purported to bring a claim for infringement of her own copyright in her individual articles, not for infringement of the publisher's copyright in the magazine issues as a whole.

> Robert C. Cumbow
> Graham & Dunn, P.C.
> 1420 Fifth Avenue, 33rd Floor
> Seattle, Washington 98101-2390
> Phone: 206-340-9619
> Fax: 206-340-9599
> E-mail: rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com
> Website: http://www.grahamdunn.com/
>

		Big law firm experience
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