Copyright law defines copyright misappropriation as the intentional and unauthorized use of another’s copyrighted intellectual property for one’s own use or other unauthorized purpose. Copyright misappropriation can result in damages totaling as much as $150,000 per each willful infringement act. An example of copyright misappropriation would be a writer taking a magazine article published in March 2010 and copying it directly into their book and claiming it is their own.
What do I do if I discover someone has misappropriated by copyrighted work?
Action must be taken immediately if you discover someone infringing on your copyright. This is because copyright misappropriation has a very strict 3 year statute of limitations. Statute of limitations is a limit that the court places on how long you have to file a copyright lawsuit. In this case, the limitation is set at 3 years after the copyright infringement.
Are there any exceptions to the copyright statute of limitations?
Some courts have attempted to set an exception that the copyright statute of limitations is actually 3 years after the infringement is first discovered. However, those copyright cases are typically then limited to damages for only the past 3 years of misappropriation. This means that if someone misappropriated your copyrighted song in 1999 and you just discovered it in 2010, you can only collect damages for the copyright misappropriation that happened from 2007 to 2010.
What are the consequences of misappropriating someone’s copyrighted property?
Congress has set the amount of money for each copyright infringement at up to $30,000 per infringing act or up to $150,000 per intentional infringing act. Copyright misappropriations can also result in criminal prosecution resulting in further fines and possible jail time.
Getting Help
The statute of limitations on a copyright claim, copyright, and otherwise should always be carefully evaluated based on your facts by an intellectual property lawyer. Since this can be the deciding point in whether or not you have a copyright claim, you do not want to try to figure this out on your own. Seek the advice of an intellectual property attorney who is familiar with copyright matters before moving forward.