In a concise, unpublished decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants in a copyright suit on the grounds that the plaintiff lacked standing.  Voss v. Knotts et al., Case No. 12-56168 (9th Cir., Apr. 8, 2014) (per curiam).

In his bankruptcy schedules, the plaintiff failed to list the copyright at issue in the case.  Thus, the 9th Circuit agreed with the district court and determined that the bankruptcy estate owned the copyright and plaintiff lacked standing to bring the action.  The Court found there was “no basis” to substitute in the bankruptcy estate on appeal, and reasoned that “a substitution of parties would not change the fact that the district court did not err” in its holding.