The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there is no time limit for recovering monetary damages in copyright cases filed before the statue of limitations. The case "turned on whether copyright damages are limited to the period of infringement that occurred during the statute of limitations or whether it could also include instances of infringement from before the statute of limitations period."
The 6-3 ruling, authored by liberal Justice Elena Kagan, affirmed a lower court's decision that favored producer Sherman Nealy, who sued a Warner subsidiary and others in Florida federal court in 2018. "The Copyright Act entitles a copyright owner to recover damages for any timely claim," Kagan wrote, referring to the 1976 federal law at issue in the case."If Nealy's claims are thus timely, he may obtain damages for them," Kagan added. Nealy's attorney Wes Earnhardt welcomed the decision. "By holding that damages are available for all timely filed infringement claims, regardless of when the infringements occurred, the court's decision provides clarity on an important issue that had divided the circuit courts," Earnhardt said.
6-3, with the nutters dissenting. I know not everything has to do with him, but it's never going to be hard to see why so many justices want to wriggle their way to limiting consequences for the big boys.
The case was about In the Ayer, by the way!
Nealy has said that his label Music Specialist owns rights to the electronic dance song "Jam the Box" by Tony Butler, also known as Pretty Tony. Warner artist Flo Rida, whose given name is Tramar Dillard, incorporated elements of "Jam the Box" into his 2008 song "In the Ayer."
