Abstract
Under Section 507(b) of the Copyright Act, which provides a three-year statute of limitations, courts have typically employed one of two distinct approaches to ascertain when a claim accrues in civil copyright infringement cases. One of these is the “Discovery Accrual Rule,” which provides that the three-year limitation period commences once a plaintiff discovers infringement. The other, the “Injury Accrual Rule,” provides that the three-year limitation period commences once a plaintiff has been harmed through infringement. An incompatibility arises because no section of the Copyright Act prescribes a specific lookback period for recovery. As such, there is an ongoing debate regarding a potential three-year lookback for assessing damages in cases where the Discovery Accrual Rule is applied.
Recommended Citation
Tim Knight,
Resolving the Incompatibility of Claim Accrual and Recovery in Copyright Law,
89 Mo. L. Rev.
(2024)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol89/iss3/11