Famous Copyright Cases To Learn From | Unicolors v. H&M

The Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling clarifies that mistakes, whether of law or fact, in a copyright registration do not constitute “knowledge” under section 411(b) of the Copyright Act.

This decision stemmed from a case where Unicolors sued H&M for copyright infringement, with H&M challenging the validity of Unicolors’ registration due to inaccuracies. The Court’s 6-3 decision, authored by Justice Breyer, ensures protection for creators and copyright owners, particularly individuals and small businesses, against infringement claims based solely on administrative errors in registrations.

In a landmark decision, mistakes in copyright registrations, whether of law or fact, won’t constitute “knowledge” under the Copyright Act.

This protects individuals and small businesses from infringement claims due to administrative errors.