Supreme Court: you need a registration in hand before you can sue

In Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com, the Supreme Court confirmed that a copyright owner cannot sue for infringement until the Copyright Office has issued a registration. A pending application is not enough.

Timing matters too. Statutory damages and attorney’s fees are available only if the work was registered before the infringement began or within three months of first publication. The registration application asks who the author is, which is where AI-generated code runs into trouble.

This page reflects current U.S. copyright law and general international principles. It is provided for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.