Litigation

District Court Predicts Eighth Circuit Would Apply Application Approach to Filing a Copyright Lawsuit

By H. William Allen et al.

The District Court of Minnesota denied a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction in Tri-Marketing, Inc. v. Mainstream Marketing Services, Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42694 (5/19/09).

Tri-Marketing filed suit for copyright infringement. Tri-Marketing had submitted its copyright application and fees but had not yet received the registration. Mainstream moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The court noted the circuit split on this issue--some courts permit the lawsuit to proceed once the application is filed, while other courts require the plaintiff to get the registration first.

The court noted that the Eighth Circuit has not decided this issue. However, the Eighth Circuit cited language that indicated it would adopt the application approach in Action Tapes, Inc. v. Mattson, 462 F.3d 1010 (2006) (previously posted 1/10/07). The court adopted the application approach and denied the motion to dismiss.

Full post as published by Arkansas Business Litigation Blog on June 10, 2009 (boomark / email).