Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-571_e29f.pdf
Page Number: 4.0

Cite as:  586 U. S. ____ (2019) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order
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SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 17–571 
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FOURTH ESTATE PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION, 
PETITIONER v. WALL-STREET.COM, LLC, ET AL. 

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

[March 4, 2019] 

JUSTICE GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. 
Impelling  prompt  registration  of  copyright  claims,  17 
U. S. C.  §411(a)  states  that  “no  civil  action  for  infringe-
ment 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  question
this  case  presents:  Has  “registration  . . .  been  made  in 
accordance  with  [Title  17]”  as  soon  as  the  claimant  deliv-
ers the required application, copies of the work, and fee to
the  Copyright  Office;  or  has  “registration  . . .  been  made” 
only  after  the  Copyright  Office  reviews  and  registers  the
copyright?  We  hold,  in  accord  with  the  United  States 
Court  of  Appeals  for  the  Eleventh  Circuit,  that  registra-
tion  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  oc-
curred both before and after registration.   

Petitioner  Fourth  Estate  Public  Benefit  Corporation
(Fourth  Estate)  is  a  news  organization  producing  online
journalism.    Fourth  Estate  licensed  journalism  works  to