Owner of All Rights to Photo Collection Need Not List All Authors Under Section 409

On Wednesday, July 17, the Fourth Circuit found that “an applicant seeking to register a compilation of photographs does not need to list in its application all of the authors of the individual photographs so long as the applicant, prior to registration, has acquired all of the rights to the subject photographs.” The ruling in favor of Finnegan client Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. is the first in which a federal appellate court addressed this issue, as well as the use of electronic signatures in copyright agreements under the E-Sign Act. Finnegan represented MRIS in this matter.