Untimely Ownership Claim, Copyright Infringement Claim

"Under the Copyright Act, claims for ordinary copyright infringement must be brought within three years after the claim accrues. Thus, a new three-year statute of limitations is created upon each act of infringement. However, courts have held that claims pertaining to copyright authorship accrue only once and must be brought within three years from when “plain and express repudiation” of authorship is communicated to the claimant. In this case, the 9th Circuit followed guidance from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second and Sixth Circuits to affirm the district court ruling that an infringement claim where the central issue is copyright ownership is only timely if such ownership claim, standing alone, would also be timely. The court reasoned that this approach prevents plaintiffs from navigating around the statute of limitations for copyright ownership claims by simply disguising the grievance as an infringement claim. The 9th Circuit noted that creating a circuit split in the area of copyright, as Seven Arts requested, would be “particularly troublesome” and would lead to inconsistent levels of copyright protection among jurisdictions." read more at: Untimely Ownership Claim Time-Bars Copyright Infringement Claim Where Basis of Dispute Is Ownership - Seven Arts Filmed Entertainment Ltd. v. Paramount Pictures Corp. | McDermott Will & Emery - JDSupra

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