Page:Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-street.com, LLC, et al..pdf/7

4 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.

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, materials, and fee required for registration, or only when the Copyright Office grants registration. Fourth Estate advances the former view–the “application approach”–while Wall-Street urges the latter reading–the “registration approach.” The registration approach, we conclude, reflects the only satisfactory reading of §411(a)’s text. We therefore reject Fourth Estate’s application approach.

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