Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-571_e29f.pdf
Page Number: 1

(Slip Opinion) 

OCTOBER  TERM,  2018 

1 

Syllabus 

NOTE:  Where  it  is  feasible,  a  syllabus  (headnote)  will  be  released,  as  is 
being  done  in  connection  with  this  case,  at  the  time  the  opinion  is  issued. 
The  syllabus  constitutes  no  part  of  the  opinion  of  the  Court  but  has  been 
prepared  by  the  Reporter  of  Decisions  for  the  convenience  of  the  reader. 
See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

Syllabus 

FOURTH ESTATE PUBLIC BENEFIT CORP. v. WALL-
STREET.COM, LLC, ET AL. 

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR 
THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT 

No. 17–571.  Argued January 8, 2019—Decided March 4, 2019 

Petitioner Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation (Fourth Estate), a 
news  organization,  licensed  works  to  respondent  Wall-Street.com, 
LLC  (Wall-Street), a  news  website.    Fourth  Estate  sued Wall-Street 
and its owner for copyright infringement of news articles that Wall-
Street failed to remove from its website after canceling the parties’ li-
cense agreement.  Fourth Estate had filed applications to register the 
articles with the Copyright Office, but the Register of Copyrights had 
not acted on those applications.  Title 17 U. S. C. §411(a) states that 
“no civil action for infringement of the copyright in any United States 
work shall be instituted until . . . registration of the  copyright claim 
has  been  made  in  accordance  with  this  title.”  The  District  Court 
dismissed the complaint, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, holding 
that  “registration  . . .  has  [not]  been  made”  under  §411(a)  until  the 
Copyright Office registers a copyright. 

Held: Registration occurs, and a copyright claimant may commence an 
infringement  suit,  when  the  Copyright  Office  registers  a  copyright.  
Upon  registration  of  the  copyright,  however,  a  copyright  owner  can 
recover for infringement that occurred both before and after registra-
tion.  Pp. 3–12. 

(a) Under  the  Copyright  Act  of  1976,  as  amended,  a  copyright  au-
thor  gains  “exclusive  rights”  in  her  work  immediately  upon  the 
work’s creation.  17 U. S. C. §106.  A copyright owner may institute a 
civil  action  for  infringement  of  those  exclusive  rights,  §501(b),  but 
generally only after complying with §411(a)’s requirement that “reg-
istration . . . has been made.”  Registration is thus akin to an admin-
istrative  exhaustion  requirement that the owner must satisfy before 
suing to enforce ownership rights.  P. 3.