The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Puerto Rico and the United States from taking a legal stand against the new copyright protections the island sought after it became a U.S. territory.
The high court said the island’s application to the court in Washington did not meet the requirements of the law and that it did not present a strong enough case to overcome the jurisdictional problems that would be created by the jurisdictive issues the island had to contend with.
“The petitioners have not shown that their request to the Supreme Court to address the jurisdictions of the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam is so complex, complex, and so complex that it would render the Supreme Courts ability to resolve jurisdictional issues impracticable,” the court said.
In addition, the court rejected Puerto Rican arguments that the federal Copyright Act of 1976 preempts its right to protect its own intellectual property.
The court said Congress has given the Copyright Office broad authority to protect the rights of the public against copyright infringement and has never interpreted its authority to prevent the U.,S.
Virgin islands from enacting copyright protections for their own works.
The appeals court’s opinion was authored by Justice Elena Kagan, who has written for decades that the Copyright Act’s authority over the U,S.
territories is “unprecedented, pervasive and pervasive.”
