## Facts

- In 1993, Fernando Torres‑Negrón wrote the music and lyrics to “Noche de Fiesta” and gave a friend the original handwritten lyrics and an original cassette recording, keeping no copies.
- The song was recorded by a band and released on an album produced by Antonio Rivera; Torres received $900 in royalties for that initial release.
- Rivera later sold the master recording to J & N Records, which released the song on additional albums distributed in Puerto Rico and the continental United States without contacting Torres or paying further royalties.
- In 2001, after learning of the additional releases, Torres applied to register the song and sued for infringement.
- For the registration deposit, Torres submitted a typed version of the lyrics and a cassette he created in 2001 by recording himself performing the song from memory, without access to the original fixation.
- The Copyright Office issued a registration certificate in 2002 based on that deposit.
- A jury returned a verdict for Torres, but the district court entered judgment as a matter of law for defendants, concluding the reconstructed deposit did not satisfy the statutory deposit requirement and that the court therefore lacked subject-matter jurisdiction; the court denied defendants’ request for attorney’s fees.

## Issues

1. Whether a reconstruction of a song created from memory, without access to the original fixation, qualifies as a “copy” sufficient to satisfy the Copyright Act’s deposit requirement for registration and thus supports federal jurisdiction over an infringement claim.
2. Whether the district court abused its discretion by denying defendants attorney’s fees after prevailing on the jurisdictional/registration defect.

## Decision

- The First Circuit affirmed the judgment as a matter of law for defendants.
- The court held that a reconstruction made from memory, without direct reference to the original work, does not qualify as a “copy” for deposit purposes and renders the registration application incomplete.
- Because a complete registration application was treated as a jurisdictional prerequisite to an infringement suit, the defect deprived the federal court of subject-matter jurisdiction, making the jury verdict ineffectual.
- The First Circuit also affirmed the denial of attorney’s fees, finding no abuse of discretion.

## Legal Principles

- The Copyright Act’s deposit requirement demands submission of a “copy” that faithfully embodies the work as fixed; a later reconstruction created from memory is not an adequate substitute.
- An incomplete registration application (including an improper deposit) defeats eligibility to sue for infringement under the then-applicable jurisdictional approach in the circuit.
- Attorney’s fees under the Copyright Act are discretionary; prevailing status alone does not require an award, and a court may deny fees where circumstances do not warrant them.

## Conclusion

The court held that a reconstructed-from-memory deposit did not satisfy statutory deposit requirements, leaving the registration application incomplete and the federal court without jurisdiction over the infringement claim, while also upholding the denial of attorney’s fees to the prevailing defendants.


Torres-Negrón v. J & N Records, LLC, 504 F.3d 151 (1st Cir. 2007)