The United States Supreme Court, in Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P., a recent 6-3 decision, found that innocent legal errors in copyright applications do not preclude copyright holders from taking advantage of the safe harbor provision of the Copyright Act, which protects registrants from having their copyrights invalidated due to inadvertent errors.  The Court’s ruling therefore made clear that such errors in copyright applications—including both mistakes of law and mistakes of fact—will rarely be the basis for invalidation.

This issue made its way to the Supreme Court by way of a dispute between Unicolors, a Los Angeles based fabric and design company, and H&M, the Swedish retailer and fast fashion brand.  Unicolors originally filed suit in 2016 for copyright infringement, alleging that H&M used Unicolors’ copyrighted geometric design on several of its garments without authorization.  In turn, H&M contested the validity of Unicolors’ copyright registration, which purported to cover 31 different designs under one registration.  When the district court rejected H&M’s contest following a jury verdict in favor of Unicolors, H&M appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

The Ninth Circuit overturned the verdict, finding that, in order to register multiple works under one copyright application, the registrant must publish those works as a single, bundled collection, which Unicolors failed to do.  The Ninth Circuit also found that, even if Unicolors’ mistake was an inadvertent legal error, the safe harbor provision of the Copyright Act only excuses good-faith mistakes of fact, not law, and that Unicolors’ copyright could therefore be invalidated as a result of its mistake.

The Supreme Court expressed sympathy for copyright applicants, noting that creators, such as “novelists, poets, painters, designers, and others without legal training,” have to grapple with the complexities of the Copyright Act in order to gain copyright protection of their works.  Given these complexities, the Court found that creators should not be punished for inadvertent legal errors in their applications.  In other words, the Court disagreed with the Ninth Circuit and found that the safe harbor provision does not distinguish between mistakes of law and mistakes of fact.

The recent decision is a big win for copyright holders nationwide.  However, the Court also made clear that the safe harbor provision leaves no room for willful blindness.  Thus, despite the fact that the Court’s ruling on its face appears to expand copyright protections to artists who frequently prepare and file applications without counsel, it also functions as a reminder to proceed with caution in doing so.

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Photo of Alyson Tocicki Alyson Tocicki

Alyson Tocicki is an associate in the Litigation Department and a member of the Trials Practice Group. Alyson handles high-profile and complex litigation matters around the country, with a particular emphasis on product liability, false advertising, and intellectual property disputes.

Alyson has experience…

Alyson Tocicki is an associate in the Litigation Department and a member of the Trials Practice Group. Alyson handles high-profile and complex litigation matters around the country, with a particular emphasis on product liability, false advertising, and intellectual property disputes.

Alyson has experience representing clients at all stages of litigation, including: filing initial pleadings; coordinating discovery; briefing and arguing motions; assisting with key fact and expert witness depositions; writing jury addresses; drafting direct and cross examinations; and preparing witnesses for trial. She regularly represents Fortune 500 companies in the media and entertainment, consumer products, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as professional sports leagues and teams. Alyson leverages her experience to provide creative solutions and to manage her cases with an eye towards trial.

In addition, Alyson devotes significant time to pro bono matters, having been recognized at Proskauer’s 2023 Golden Gavel Awards for her substantial contributions to the Firm’s pro bono efforts. She also serves as a member of the Firm’s Associate Council and was selected to be a Protégée for Proskauer’s Women’s Sponsorship Program, an initiative for high-performing, mid-level lawyers that champions future leaders.

Prior to joining Proskauer, Alyson earned her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, where she served as a Managing Editor of the UCLA Law Review and President of the Student Bar Association. While in law school, she also earned multiple Masin Family Academic Excellence Awards, advised first-year students on legal research and writing, and worked as a judicial extern for the Honorable Robert N. Kwan in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.