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U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Whether Copyright Plaintiffs Can Reach Back More Than Three Years for Infringement Damages
Under §507(b) of the U.S. Copyright Act, the statute of limitations for filing a copyright action is that it must be filed within three years of a claim accruing. It was a case of first impression for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, "that has divided our sister courts" the Eleventh Circuit noted, in deciding that a copyright plaintiff may recover damages that occur more than three years before a copyright lawsuit is filed. Nealy v. Warner Chappell Music Inc., 60 F.4th 1325 (11th Cir. 2023).
The Nealy litigation arose out of a copyright infringement action brought by music producer Sherman Nealy against Warner Chappell Music and Artist Publishing Group. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 21, 2024, when the justices heard oral arguments in Warner Chappell Music Inc. v. Nealy, 22-1078, due to a conflict among the circuit courts over the interplay between the case-filing statute of limitations in §507(b) and copyright damages.
The Eleventh Circuit's Nealy ruling had aligned with the Ninth Circuit's view in Starz Entertainment LLC v. MGM Domestic Television Distribution LLC, 39 F.4th 1236 (9th Cir. 2022), which conflicts with the Second Circuit's view that copyright damages are limited by the three-year statute of limitations. See, Sohm v. Scholastic Inc., 959 F.3d 39 (2d Cir. 2020).
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