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On June 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case that will likely determine once and for all whether courts are empowered to void copyright registrations based on immaterial registration errors, or whether a showing of bad faith or an intent-to-defraud is required.
The underlying case,
Unicolors v. H&M, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS U.S. App. LEXIS 17097 (9th Cir. May 29, 2020) involved claims for copyright infringement brought by Unicolors, Inc. (“Unicolors”) against retailer H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. (“H&M”). Unicolors, a company that creates textile designs for use on fabric and apparel, alleged that a design appearing on a jacket sold by H&M infringed upon Unicolors’ copyrighted design. Unicolors had applied for and obtained a copyright registration certificate for the design at issue in the case in February 2011. Notably, Unicolors’ copyright registration included not just the work Unicolors
In Unicolors Inc v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz Case No. 20-915 the 9th Circuit broke with prior precedent when they reversed an $800,000 copyright infringement award, ruled district court wrong to find intent to defraud the US Copyright Office, Supreme Court to decide further.
The Supreme Court of the United States agreed to consider whether a copyright registration accurately reflecting a work can nevertheless be invalidated without fraudulent intent..