As digital technology and the online environment transform the distribution and use of intellectual property, our Copyright & Trademark group is on the front lines in protecting and enforcing our clients’ most important creative assets. Our trial-tested team represents a wide range of clients, from entrepreneurs to major corporations, from playwrights to media giants, and from individual songwriters to the country’s largest performing rights organizations.
Second Circuit Review: Copyright Act’s Registration Is Bar to Class-Action Settling
December 28, 2007 Full PDF
Litigation partners Marty Flumenbaum and Brad Karp's Second Circuit Review column appeared in the December 28 issue of the New York Law Journal. The article, "Copyright Act's Registration Is Bar to Class-Action Settling," discusses a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit holding that a district court does not have jurisdiction to certify a class action of copyright infringement claims arising from unregistered copyrights, and thus cannot approve a settlement with respect to such claims. The decision will significantly limit the use of class actions as a vehicle to settle copyright infringement cases. Litigation associate David Lin assisted in the preparation of this column.