Supreme Court copyright claims overview:
- Who: The Supreme Court sided with the Eleventh Circuit in ruling a plaintiff can recover damages for a copyright claim even if the alleged infringement occurred more than three years prior to the complaint.
- Why: The high court ruled there is no time limit on monetary recovery for a copyright infringement claim that is timely filed.
- Where: The case was in front of the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Supreme Court ruled an individual can recover damages for a copyright claim even if the alleged infringement occurred more than three years prior to its discovery.
The high court’s decision came via a 6-3 vote and will allow plaintiffs to recover damages for copyright infringement claims that may have occurred decades before they were discovered, Law360 reports.
“There is no time limit on monetary recovery,” the Supreme Court says in an opinion Justice Elena Kagan authored. “So a copyright owner possessing a timely claim is entitled to damages for infringement, no matter when the infringement occurred.”
The ruling followed a split-decision between the Second Circuit and Eleventh Circuit, with the former arguing that a three-year cap on recovery damages for copyright infringement applied even with the discovery rule, which allows copyright claims to start accruing upon discovery, Law360 reports.
Supreme Court agrees music producer can recover damages for copyright claims
The case was spurred by a music producer’s attempt to recover damages from music publisher Warner Chappell Music Inc. over claims of copyright infringement that allegedly occurred more than three years before their complaint was filed in 2018.
The 11th Circuit, in disagreeing with the 2nd Circuit, ruled the music producer, Sherman Nealy, could recover damages from Warner Chappell despite the alleged copyright infringement dating back 10 years, Law360 reports.
The Supreme Court, in agreeing with the 11th Circuit, calls the 2nd Circuit’s view “essentially self-defeating” and writes it had “no textual support.”
“With one hand, that court recognizes a discovery rule, thus enabling some copyright owners to sue for infringing acts occurring more than three years earlier,” the majority writes. “And with the other hand, the court takes away the value in what it has conferred, by preventing the recovery of damages for those older infringements.”
In other copyright-related news, Build-A-Bear and the maker of Squishmallows filed competing lawsuits against each other in February over claims involving the former’s new line of Shooksherz plushies
Have you been injured by copyright infringement? Let us know in the comments.
The Supreme Court copyright case is In re: Chappell Music Inc., et al. v. Sherman Nealy, et al., Case No. 22-1078, in the Supreme Court of the United States.
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