Re: comment on copyright case?

From: Angela Washelesky <awashel[_at_]hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 22:57:34 CDT

On Mon, 24 Apr 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?

All I can figure is that the plaintiff is unable to prove any actual damages, and because of failing to have a registration for her individual articles, she is unable to collect statutory damages. The article definitely is not clear.

Angela Washelesky
Attorney at Law
<awashel[_at_]hotmail.com>

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