LITIGATION TRENDS 2025 | 75 T O C E M P E S G A N T I I P C A P R O W C S P O R T C O N T A C T I N T A P P P A T C C L S E C Supreme Court Clarifies Relevant Damages Period for Copyright Matters In May 2024, the Supreme Court clarified the temporal scope of recoverable damages under the Copyright Act. In a 6-3 opinion delivered by Justice Kagan, the Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy majority opined that a plaintiff can recover damages for copyright infringement “no matter when the infringement occurred,” so long as the lawsuit is timely under the Copyright Act’s three-year statute of limitations. 601 U.S. 366, 372 (2024). While the straightforward Nealy decision resolved a circuit split between the Second Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit on the question of the damages period, it left open the more fundamental question of when the three-year statute of limitations is tolled. Does a claim “accrue” automatically once the infringement occurs? Or, as the majority of circuits permit, can a plaintiff bring a claim based on an earlier infringement so long as the infringement is first “discovered” (or reasonably should have been discovered) within three years of filing? The Nealy majority “assume[d] without deciding” that an older claim could be timely under the latter discovery rule, taking care not to opine on the validity of either approach. See id. at 368. This larger question was not before the Court because Defendant Warner Chappell Music never challenged Plaintiff Nealy’s ability to assert his eight-year old infringement claim. See id. at 371. Rather, the only issue in this interlocutory appeal was the extent of Nealy’s recoverable damages. The District Court for the Southern District of Florida held that only damages occurring within the last three years were recoverable, but the Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding that Nealy’s damages were not subject to any time limitation. See id. at 370. The majority affirmed based on its interpretation of the plain text of the Copyright Act, holding that the Act permits damages for any “timely” infringement claim IP/Media Benjamin Marks Head New York benjamin.marks@weil.com IAI P 74 | Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
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