Cambridge Literary Properties, Ltd. v. W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik G.M.B.H. & Co. Kg.

The majority opinion holds that since the Cambridge state-law accounting claim might require it to establish as a threshold matter that . its predecessor-in-interest, Margarete Seemann, was an original co-owner of the copyright in Das Hummel-buch, the Cambridge claim thus “arises under” the Copyright Act for purposes of both subject matter jurisdiction and, by logical extension, the Act’s three-year statute of limitations. Inasmuch as the ramifications of this holding — viz., that the federal courts have exclusive subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate all accounting claims between the…