On August 16, 2024, Spector Gadon Rosen Vinci P.C. won an appeal on the highly disputed issue of when a statute of limitations accrues in copyright cases. In Michael Grecco Prods., Inc. v. RADesign, Inc., 23-1078 (2d Cir. Aug. 16, 2024), SGRV and its attorney, Senior Litigation Counsel Bruce Bellingham, represented the fashion and celebrity photographer, Michael Grecco. The case turned on efforts to undermine the rule that, due to the difficulty of monitoring the universe of publications, the three-year statute of limitations for copyright claims accrues when an author discovers, or should have discovered, an infringement (the “discovery rule”). But, over the last five years, some federal district courts have sought to rein in artists’ claims against commercial infringers by presuming that “sophisticated” authors – those who have previously sued to enforce their copyrights – “should have” discovered any unlicensed copying within three years of its occurrence. In effect, the “injury rule” of claim accrual was applied.

Grecco alleged that the Ruthie Davis brand of women’s footwear (priced from $300-$900 per pair), pirated on its website Grecco’s images of the model Amber Rose wearing Ruthie Davis shoes. The images, published by Inked magazine in August 2017, were republished within days by Ruthie Davis without a license. Grecco pleaded that he discovered the infringement in January 2021 and sued in October 2021, more than four years after the infringement, but less than one year after discovery. A district court in the Southern District of New York granted Ruthie Davis’s motion to dismiss finding that it was “not credible” that Grecco could not have discovered the infringement within three years of the occurrence because his Complaint alleged that he actively enforces his copyrights. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. It reaffirmed that the “discovery rule” was the only rule of accrual in copyright cases; holding that the sophistication of the plaintiff was irrelevant at the pleading stage; and it stressed that, to state a claim, a copyright plaintiff need not anticipate and rebut any potential affirmative defense including the statute of limitations. It also held that the time when a copyright plaintiff “should have” discovered an infringement was a question of fact not subject to any presumption because the defendant must prove that defense.

For two decades, Spector Gadon Rosen Vinci P.C. has actively assisted artists by offering pro bono legal services to clients referred by the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.

Bruce Bellingham’s legal work is divided between commercial litigation with an emphasis on dispositive motions and appellate advocacy; copyright infringement work and representation of artists, arts organizations, and content creators; and business advice and contract work generally for small to medium sized firms and individuals. He has been elected a Super Lawyer by his peers in the field of intellectual property (copyright) in the years 2015-2024.

Spector Gadon Rosen Vinci P.C. has represented clients nationally and internationally for nearly 50 years and provides counsel and expertise across the entire spectrum of legal practice, from complex litigation to sophisticated transactional and corporate matters. The firm has offices in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Florida, and New York.