Dogs, Bones and Bad Wine: Justices Float Scrapping Warner Chappell to Consider Alternate Petition on ‘Discovery Accrual Rule’ for Copyright
Herrick counsel, Barry Werbin, was quoted in IPWatchdog explaining how the US Supreme Court is interpreting the Copyright Act’s discovery accrual rule as it relates to Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy.
The article notes that Warner Chappell asks whether a copyright plaintiff can recover damages for acts that allegedly occurred over three years prior to the filing of a lawsuit. Barry said that, regardless of what the Justices decide to do, “there is an urgent need to establish a single, consistent standard among the Circuits on this critical copyright damages issue.”
Barry added, “This growing Circuit split inevitably leads to forum shopping and disparate damage rulings in copyright cases. This, in turn, makes it more difficult to settle such cases early on based on informed assessments of the potential maximum damage awards in infringement cases. Defendants within the jurisdictions of courts following the Second Circuit’s position can arguably infringe with impunity, knowing that upon discovery of their actions their liability would be limited to only a three-year lookback for damages.”