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Commentary: Claims Filing Time Issues on Copyright Ownership from Everly Bros. Case
Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Everly Brothers had a string of hits: "Bye Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Susie," "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and many more. Don and Phil Everly's flawless harmonies regrettably ended in acrimony. In Everly v. Everly, 958 F.3d 442 (6th Cir. 2020), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision in a dispute between Phil's heirs and Don over copyright ownership of the No. 1 hit "Cathy's Clown."
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee granted summary judgment to Don, finding the claim that Phil also authored the song was time-barred. The Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded, finding genuine issues of fact as to whether Don expressly repudiated Phil's authorship of the song more than three years before the filing of the action.
Circuit Judge Eric E. Murphy, in his concurrence, raised important questions about when the statute of limitations should begin to run in copyright cases and whether courts have been correctly applying the law. (Also see the article "Federal Appeals Courts Weight in On Accruals For Copyright Infringement vs. Ownership Claims Copyright Statute of Limitations," Entertainment Law & Finance, June 2020, p. 1.)
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