On April 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a U.S. Supreme Court decision in the copyright infringement matter of Foss v. Marvic Inc., in which the First Circuit dismissed the plaintiff’s claims of copyright infringement for failure to register the copyright in dispute prior to the initiation of litigation proceedings.
However, the First Circuit affirmed the court’s summary judgment against the plaintiff regarding state law claims. The dispute began in 2006 when sunroom surveyor company Marvic Inc. hired graphic designer Foss to design a marketing brochure, estimated at costing $3,000 to produce. Foss alleged copyright infringement against the defendants, after discovering in 2016 that the company had used a modified version of her brochure without Foss’s permission.
