Justices Leave Door Open to Discovery Rule Copyright Damages (1)

A rapper claiming he learned belatedly that his copyrights had been infringed can pursue damages dating to a decade before his suit under a discovery rule, the US Supreme Court said—without deciding whether that rule is valid in copyright law.

A six-justice majority held that if a claim is timely under the Copyright Act’s statute of limitations, nothing in the law limits how far back damages can reach. The 6-3 opinion, authored by Justice Elena Kagan, assumed—without deciding—that the claims by rapper and producer Sherman Nealy were timely under the discovery rule.

“If Nealy’s claims are thus timely, he may ...