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FOURTH ESTATE PUB. BENEFIT CORP. v. 
WALL-STREET.COM, LLC 
Opinion of the Court 

registration  risks  dismissal  unless  the  copyright  owner
applies  for  registration  promptly  after  the  preregistered 
work’s  publication  or  infringement. 
§408(f)(3)–(4).  A 
copyright  owner  may  also  sue  for  infringement  of  a  live
broadcast  before  “registration  . . .  has  been  made,”  but 
faces dismissal of her suit if she fails to “make registration
for the work” within three months of its first transmission. 
§411(c).  Even  in  these  exceptional  scenarios,  then,  the 
copyright  owner  must  eventually  pursue  registration  in
order to maintain a suit for infringement. 

II 

All  parties  agree  that,  outside  of  statutory  exceptions 
not  applicable  here,  §411(a)  bars  a  copyright  owner  from
suing  for  infringement  until  “registration  . . .  has  been 
made.”  Fourth  Estate  and  Wall-Street  dispute,  however, 
whether  “registration  . . .  has  been  made”  under  §411(a)
when  a  copyright  owner  submits  the  application,  materi-
als,  and  fee  required  for  registration,  or  only  when  the
Copyright  Office  grants  registration.    Fourth  Estate  ad-
vances  the  former  view—the  “application  approach”—
while  Wall-Street  urges  the  latter  reading—the  “registra-
tion  approach.”  The  registration  approach,  we  conclude,
reflects the only satisfactory reading of §411(a)’s text.  We 
therefore reject Fourth Estate’s application approach. 

A 
Under  §411(a),  “registration  . . .  has  been  made,”  and  a 
copyright  owner  may  sue  for  infringement,  when  the
Copyright  Office  registers  a  copyright.4   Section  411(a)’s 
—————— 

4 Section  411(a)  provides,  in  principal  part:  “[N]o  civil  action  for  in-
fringement  of  the  copyright  in  any  United  States  work  shall  be  insti-
tuted until preregistration or registration of the copyright claim has been
made  in  accordance  with  this  title.    In  any  case,  however,  where  the 
deposit,  application,  and  fee  required  for  registration  have  been  deliv-
ered  to  the  Copyright  Office  in  proper  form  and  registration  has  been 
refused, the applicant is entitled to institute a civil action for infringe-