The USA Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a Miami music producer in a legal fight with Warner Music over a song by rapper Flo Rida, resolving a dispute over the time limit for claiming monetary damages in copyright cases.
The 6-3 ruling, authored by liberal Justice Elena Kagan, affirmed a lower court’s decision that favoured producer Sherman Nealy, who sued a Warner subsidiary and others in Florida federal court in 2018.
Nealy has said that his label Music Specialist owns rights to the electronic dance song “Jam the Box” by Tony Butler, also known as Pretty Tony. Warner artist Flo Rida, whose given name is Tramar Dillard, incorporated elements of “Jam the Box” into his 2008 song “In the Ayer.”
Nealy sued music publishing company Warner Chappell and others, arguing that they took an invalid licence to “Jam the Box” from Butler, his former business partner, while Nealy was incarcerated for cocaine distribution. The producer requested damages for alleged copyright infringement dating back to 2008.
A federal judge decided that Nealy could recover damages only for infringement that happened during the three years before he filed the lawsuit, based on the USA statute of limitations for bringing a copyright-infringement case after discovering a claim. The Atlanta-based 11th USA Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision and said there was “no bar to damages in a timely action.” The Supreme Court upheld the 11th Circuit’s ruling.
