Someone asked me a question yesterday that I just couldn’t answer so I thought I’d try it out here. As many of us know, the U.S. is unique in having a copyright registration system. In other countries, there is no need to register a work in order to obtain statutory remedies etc. This decreases the time and cost burdens on copyright holders ie they don’t need to be sophisticated users of the system to know that they are supposed to register their works for maximum protection and they don’t need to know how to register their works. However, it increases uncertainties as to copyright ownership. So the question I was asked was whether it is in fact easier for a plaintiff to find a copyright lawyer to bring an infringement action in the U.S. than in other countries. Is it possible that lawyers in other countries are less inclined to bring actions on behalf of plaintiffs or perhaps charge more for their work because they may have to obtain more evidence to establish their client’s ownership of the work in question prior to bringing the suit? I know that other factors would play into the answer to this question as well. For example, in some countries lawyers are not allowed to charge contingency fees so that would also affect a lawyer’s decision whether or not to take a particular case. But I just wonder whether the lack of a registration system for copyrights would in and of itself potentially create disincentives for lawyers to be available to copyright plaintiffs. Thoughts?
This seems to be hard to measure because of other variables, such as fee and pricing models. In any event, I would be surprised if it made a difference.
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