In certain circumstances.
A 6-3 decision on Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy held that damages for copyright infringement can include all infringing acts, not just damages in the past three years. Prior to this decision, damages were limited to a three-year period under the Copyright Act.
Background
Music from the now defunct Music Specialists, Inc. was licensed to Warner Chappell without knowledge or permission from Music Specialists’ owner Sherman Nealy. Music Specialists’ music began appearing in albums of, among others, the Black Eyed Pears, Flo Rida, and Kid Sister starting in 2008. Nealy did not discover the copyright infringement until 2016 because he had been in prison on and off for nearly 20 years.
Impact
The Supreme Court found that the Copyright Act did not impose and three-year limit on damages, only a clock on when a claim had to be filed. If circumstances arose that prevented plaintiff from reasonably discovering an infringement, then plaintiffs are no longer limited to a three-year cap on copyright damages.
The decision still requires claims be made timely, within three years of when the infringement was (or reasonably should have been) discovered, consistent with the language in the Copyright Act. So plaintiffs still need to be diligent surrounding infringement. If a claim is filed more than three years after a copyright infringement is (or should have been) discovered, then damages may still be capped at three years.
The decision did not address when the clock on statute of limitation.