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Re: SFLC's GPL court enforcement -- "A telling admission" by AaronWilli


From: Alexander Terekhov
Subject: Re: SFLC's GPL court enforcement -- "A telling admission" by AaronWilliamson (AW1337)
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:06:26 +0200

Hyman Rosen wrote:
> 
> Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> > http://williampatry.blogspot.com/2007/01/section-411a-bites-plaintiff-twice.html
> 
>      "An opinion issued ... shows some courts may take
>       the requirement too seriously.

I think that awarding attorneys fees against plaintiff and forcing
plaintiff pay another case filing fee (IF and when plaintiff receives a
registration or a rejection thereof and decides to go to court once
again) is the right remedy. For a pro se plaintiff. Attorney sanctions
for a non-pro litigants sounds quite reasonable to me. Don't you agree,
Hyman?

http://www.techlawjournal.com/courts/lds/19991112mem.htm 

------- 
Registration of copyright in the work that is allegedly infringed is a
jurisdictional requirement. 17 U.S.C. § 411. Techniques, Inc. v. Rohn,
592 F.Supp. 1195, 1197; 225 U.S.P.Q. 741 (S.D.N.Y. 1984)("Pursuant to 17
U.S.C. § 411(a) as well as its predecessor, § 13, it has been held
repeatedly that ownership of a copyright registration is a
jurisidictional prerequisite to an action for infringement. . . . A
complaint which fails to plead compliance with § 411(a) is defective and
subject to dismissal."); Grundberg v. The Upjohn Company, 137 F.R.D.
372, 382; 19 U.S.P.Q. 1590 (D. Ut. 1991). Lacking even an allegation of
registration of copyright ... this Court is without subject matter
jurisdiction. 
------- 

http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2001/66fr19094.html 

------- 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under title 17, United States Code, the 

copyright law allows a copyright owner to sue for infringement of 

exclusive rights provided under 17 U.S.C. 106, as long as the work(s) 

at issue have been registered with the Copyright Office. In addition, 

under section 411(a), a registration applicant whose application for 

registration has been refused by the Office may institute an 

infringement action under certain circumstances. It states: 



Except for an action brought for a violation of the rights of 

the author under section 106A(a), and subject to the provisions of 

subsection (b), no 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. In any 

case, however, where the deposit, application, and fee required for 

registration have been delivered to the Copyright Office in proper 

form and registration has been refused, the applicant is entitled to 

institute an action for infringement if notice thereof, with a copy 

of the complaint, is served on the Register of Copyrights. The 

Register may, at his or her option, become a party to the action 

with respect to the issue of registrability of the copyright claim 

by entering an appearance within sixty days after such service, but 

the Register's failure to become a party shall not deprive the court 

of jurisdiction to determine that case. 



17 U.S.C. 411(a). 

The purpose of the statutory provision is to enable the Register to 

become a party to an action, if he or she chooses, with respect to the 

issue of registrability of the copyright claim, and, thereby explain 

the Office's rejection of an application or clarify the Office's 

registration practices and procedures. The Register has sixty days 

after service of complaint to intervene in the case. 
------- 

regards,
alexander.

-- 
http://gng.z505.com/index.htm 
(GNG is a derecursive recursive derecursion which pwns GNU since it can 
be infinitely looped as GNGNGNGNG...NGNGNG... and can be said backwards 
too, whereas GNU cannot.)


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