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*
The appeal filed under Docket No. 06-0223-cv(CON) was dismissed by Court Order onMay 17, 2006.
05-5943-cv(L); 06-0223(CON)In re: Literary Works in Elec. Databases Litig.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS1F
OR THE
S
ECOND
C
IRCUIT
2 _______________ 34August Term, 200656(Argued: March 7, 2007Decided: November 29, 2007)78Docket Nos. 05-5943-cv(L), 06-0223-cv(CON)
*
9 _______________ 1011I
 N RE
:
 
L
ITERARY
W
ORKS IN
E
LECTRONIC
D
ATABASES
C
OPYRIGHT
L
ITIGATION
1213 _______________ 1415I
RVIN
M
UCHNICK 
,
 
A
BRAHAM
Z
ALEZNIK 
,
 
C
HARLES
S
CHWARTZ
,
 
J
ACK 
S
ANDS
,
 
T
ODD
P
ITOCK 
,16J
UDITH
S
TACEY
,
 
J
UDITH
T
ROTSKY
,
 
C
HRISTOPHER 
G
OODRICH
,
 
K 
ATHY
G
LICKEN
17
AND
A
 NITA
B
ARTHOLOMEW
,18
Objectors-Appellants
,19 —v.— 20T
HOMSON
C
ORPORATION
,
 
D
IALOG
C
ORPORATION
,
 
G
ALE
G
ROUP
,
 
I
 NC
.,
 
W
EST
P
UBLISHING
21C
OMPANY
,
 
I
 NC
.,
 
D
OW
J
ONES
&
 
C
OMPANY
,
 
I
 NC
.,
 
D
OW
J
ONES
R 
EUTERS
B
USINESS
I
 NTERACTIVE
,22LLC,
 
K 
 NIGHT
R 
IDDER 
I
 NC
.,
 
K 
 NIGHT
R 
IDDER 
D
IGITAL
,
 
M
EDIASTREAM
,
 
I
 NC
.,
 
 N
EWS
B
ANK 
,
 
I
 NC
.,23P
RO
Q
UEST
C
OMPANY
,
 
R 
EED
E
LSEVIER 
I
 NC
.,
 
U
 NION
-T
RIBUNE
P
UBLISHING
C
OMPANY
,
 
 N
EW
Y
ORK 
24T
IMES
C
OMPANY
,
 
C
OPLEY
P
RESS
,
 
I
 NC
.,
 
EBSCO
 
I
 NDUSTRIES
,
 
I
 NC
.
AND
P
ARTICIPATING
P
UBLISHER 
25T
RIBUNE
C
OMPANY
,26
 Defendants-Appellees
,27M
ICHAEL
C
ASTLEMAN
I
 NC
.,
 
E.L.
 
D
OCTOROW
,
 
T
OM
D
UNKEL
,
 
A
 NDREA
D
WORKIN
,
 
J
AY
F
ELDMAN
,28J
AMES
G
LEICK 
,
 
R 
ONALD
H
AYMAN
,
 
R 
OBERT
L
ACEY
,
 
R 
UTH
L
ANEY
,
 
P
AULA
M
C
D
ONALD
,
 
P/K 29A
SSOCIATES
,
 
I
 NC
.,
 
L
ETTY
C
OTTIN
P
OGREBIN
,
 
G
ERALD
P
OSNER 
,
 
M
IRIAM
R 
AFTERY
,
 
R 
ONALD
M.30S
CHWARTZ
,
 
M
ARY
S
HERMAN
,
 
D
ONALD
S
POTO
,
 
R 
OBERT
E.
 
T
REUHAFT AND
J
ESSICA
L.
 
T
REUHAFT
31T
RUST
,
 
R 
OBIN
V
AUGHAN
,
 
R 
OBLEY
W
ILSON
,
 
M
ARIE
W
INN
,
 
 N
ATIONAL
W
RITERS
U
 NION
,
 
T
HE
32A
UTHORS
G
UILD
,
 
I
 NC
.
AND
A
MERICAN
S
OCIETY OF
J
OURNALISTS AND
A
UTHORS
,3334
 
**
As putative members of the class, Judges Winter and Walker have filedcontemporaneously a separate opinion explaining their decision against recusal in this case.
See In re: Literary Works in Elec. Databases Copyright Litig.
, — F.3d — (2d Cir. Nov. 19, 2007).-2-
 Plaintiffs-Appellees
,12E
DWARD
R 
OEDER 
,34
 Appellant 
.5 _______________ 6B e f o r e :7W
INTER 
,
 
W
ALKER 
,
 
and
 
S
TRAUB
,
Circuit Judges
.
**
8 _______________ 9Appeal from an order and judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern10District of New York (George B. Daniels,
 Judge
) certifying a class of freelance authors and11approving a settlement of their copyright infringement claims arising from the unauthorized12electronic reproduction of their work. The overwhelming majority of class members’ claims13concern the infringement of unregistered copyrights. We hold that the District Court lacked14 jurisdiction over those claims. We therefore vacate the certification and settlement approval, and15remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.16Judge WALKER dissents in a separate opinion.17 _______________ 18C
HARLES
D.
 
C
HALMERS
, Fairfax, CA,
 for Objectors-Appellants
.1920C
HARLES
S.
 
S
IMS
, Proskauer Rose LLP, New York, NY (Stephen Rackow Kaye,21Joshua W. Ruthizer, Proskauer Rose LLP; Kenneth Richieri, George Freeman, The22 New York Times Company, New York, NY; Henry B. Gutman, Simpson Thacher &23Bartlett, New York, NY; James F. Rittinger, Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke, New24York, NY; Jack Weiss, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, New York, NY; Juli Wilson25Marshall, Latham & Watkins, Chicago, IL; Ian Ballon, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Santa26
 
-3-Monica, CA; Michael Denniston, Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, LLP, Birmingham,1AL; Christopher M. Graham, Levett Rockwood P.C., Westport, CT; Raymond2Castello, Fish & Richardson PC, New York, NY,
on the brief 
),
 for Defendants-
3
 Appellees
.45M
ICHAEL
J.
 
B
ONI
, Kohn Swift & Graf, P.C., Philadelphia, PA (Joshua D. Snyder,6Kohn Swift & Graf, P.C.; Diane S. Rice, Hosie MacArthur LLP, San Francisco, CA;7A.J. De Bartolomeo, Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP, San Francisco, CA; Gary8Fergus, Fergus, A Law Firm, San Francisco, CA,
on the brief 
),
 for Plaintiffs-
9
 Appellees
.10 _________________________________ 11STRAUB,
 
Circuit Judge
:12This class action copyright litigation arises from the unauthorized electronic reproduction13of various written works. Named plaintiffs and class members consist mainly of freelance14writers who contracted with publishers to author the works for publication in print media, and15retained the copyrights in those works. The contracts did not grant the publishers the right to16electronically reproduce those works or license them for electronic reproduction by others. But17the publishers did so anyway.18Plaintiffs then brought this class action on the theory that such electronic reproduction19infringed their copyrights. After years of negotiations, class and defense counsel finally agreed20on a settlement. Following lengthy motion practice, the District Court for the Southern District21of New York certified a class and approved the settlement. We review that order and judgment22on this appeal.23The overwhelming majority of claims within the certified class arise from the24infringement of unregistered copyrights. We have held, albeit outside the class action context,25that district courts lack statutory subject matter jurisdiction over infringement claims arising from26unregistered copyrights.
See Well-Made Toy Mfg. Corp. v. Goffa Int’l Corp.
, 354 F.3d 112, 11527
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