Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.

The Copyright Act provides that "[n]o civil action shall be maintained under the [Act] unless it is commenced within three years after the claim accrued." 17 U.S.C. § 507 (b). This case presents the question whether the equitable defense of laches (unreasonable, prejudicial delay in commencing suit) may bar relief on a copyright infringement claim brought within § 507(b)'s three-year limitations period. Section 507(b), it is undisputed, bars relief of any kind for conduct occurring prior to the three-year limitations period. To the extent that an infringement suit seeks relief solely for conduct occurring within the limitations period, however, courts are not at liberty to jettison Congress' judgment on the timeliness of suit. Laches, we hold, cannot be invoked to preclude adjudication of a claim for damages brought within the three-year window. As to equitable relief, in extraordinary circumstances, laches may bar at the very

statute of limitations but permits it to be abridged by the doctrine of laches is not invading congressional prerogatives. It is merely filling a legislative hole." (internal citation omitted). In 1957, Congress addressed the matter and filled the hole; it prescribed a three-year look-back limitations period for all civil claims arising under the Copyright Act. See Act of Sept. 7, 1957, Pub.L. 85-313, 71 Stat. 633 , 17 U.S.C. § 115 (b) (1958 ed.). The provision, as already noted, reads: "No civil action shall be maintained under the provisions of this

A

The allegedly infringing work in this case is the critically acclaimed motion picture Raging Bull, based on the life of boxing champion Jake LaMotta. After retiring from the ring, LaMotta worked with his longtime friend, Frank Petrella, to tell the story of the boxer's career. Their venture resulted in three copyrighted works: two screenplays, one registered in 1963, the other in 1973, and a book, registered in 1970. This case centers on the screenplay registered in 1963. The registration identified Frank Petrella as sole author, but also stated that the screenplay was written "in collaboration with" LaMotta. App. 164.

In 1976, Frank Petrella and LaMotta assigned their rights in the three works, including renewal rights, to Chartoff-Winkler Productions, Inc. Two years later, respondent United Artists Corporation, a subsidiary of respondent Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (collectively, MGM), acquired the motion picture rights to the book and both screenplays, rights stated by the parties to be "exclusiv[e] and forever, including all periods of copyright and renewals and extensions thereof." Id., at 49. In 1980, MGM released, and registered a copyright in, the film Raging Bull, directed

only for acts of infringement occurring on or after January 6, 2006. No relief, she recognizes, can be awarded for infringing acts prior to that date.

MGM moved for summary judgment on several grounds, among them, the equitable doctrine of laches. Petrella's 18-year delay, from the 1991 renewal of the copyright on which she relied, until 2009, when she commenced suit, MGM maintained, was unreasonable and prejudicial to MGM. See Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment in No. CV 09-0072 (CD Cal.).

The District Court granted MGM's motion. See App. to Pet. for Cert. 28a-48a. As to the merits of the infringement claims, the court found, disputed issues of material fact precluded summary adjudication. See id., at 34a-42a. Even so, the court held, laches barred Petrella's complaint. Id., at 42a-48a. Petrella had unreasonably delayed suit by not filing until 2009, the court concluded, and further determined

We consider first whether, as the Ninth Circuit held, laches may be invoked

Because we adhere to the position that, in face of a statute of limitations enacted by Congress, laches cannot be invoked to bar legal relief, the dissent thinks we "plac[e] insufficient weight upon the rules and practice of modern litigation." Post, at 1985. True, there has been, since 1938, only "one form of action-the civil action." Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 2. But " the substantive and remedial principles [applicable] prior to the advent of the federal rules [have] not changed." 4 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1043, p. 177 (3d ed. 2002). Holmberg, Merck, and Oneida so illustrate. The dissent presents multiple citations, see post, at 1979, 1980 - 1981, 1982 - 1983, 1984 - 1985, many of them far afield from the issue at hand, others obscuring what the cited decisions in fact ruled. Compare, e.g., post, at 1979, 1984, with infra, at 1977 - 1978 (describing Chirco v. Crosswinds Communities, Inc., 474 F.3d 227 (C.A.6 2007) ); post, at 1979, 1984 - 1985, with infra, at 1975, n. 16 (describing National Railroad Passenger Corporation v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101 , 122 S.Ct. 2061 , 153 L.Ed.2d 106 (2002) ); post, at 1983, with infra, at 1975, n. 16 (describing Patterson v. Hewitt, 195 U.S. 309 , 25 S.Ct. 35 , 49 L.Ed. 214 (1904) ). Yet tellingly, the dissent has come up with no case in which this Court has approved the application of laches to bar a claim for damages brought within the time allowed by a federal statute of limitations. There is

nothing at all "differen [t]," see post, at 1985, about copyright cases in this regard.

We turn now to MGM's principal arguments regarding the contemporary scope of the laches defense, all of them embraced by the dissent.

A

Laches is listed among affirmative defenses, along with, but discrete from, the statute of limitations, in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(c). Accordingly, MGM maintains, the plea is "available ... in every civil action" to bar all forms of relief. Tr. of Oral Arg. 43; see Brief for Respondents 40. To the Court's question, could laches apply where there is an ordinary six-year statute of limitations, MGM's counsel responded yes, case-specific circumstances might warrant a ruling that a suit brought in year five came too late. Tr. of Oral Arg. 52; see id ., at 41.

The expansive role for laches MGM envisions careens away from understandings, past and present, of the essentially gap-filling, not legislation-overriding, office of laches. Nothing in this Court's precedent suggests a doctrine of such sweep. Quite

prescription. That is so here, because the statute, § 507(b), makes the starting trigger an infringing act committed three years back from the commencement of suit, while laches, as conceived by the Ninth Circuit and advanced by MGM, makes the presumptive trigger the defendant's initial infringing act. See 695 F.3d, at 951 ; Brief for United States 16.

C

MGM insists that the defense of laches must be available to prevent a copyright

but is not an element of the defense. For laches, timeliness is the essential element. In contrast to laches, urged by MGM entirely to override the statute of limitations Congress prescribed, estoppel does not undermine Congress' prescription, for it rests on misleading, whether engaged in early on, or later in time.

Stating that the Ninth Circuit "ha[d] taken a wrong turn in its formulation and application of laches in copyright cases," Judge Fletcher called for fresh consideration of the issue. 695 F.3d, at 959 ."A recognition of the distinction between ... estoppel and laches," he suggested, "would be a good place to start." Ibid. We agree.

V

The courts below summarily disposed of Petrella's case based on laches, preventing adjudication of any of her claims on the merits and foreclosing the possibility of any form of relief. That disposition, we have explained, was erroneous. Congress' time provisions secured to authors a copyright term of long duration, and a right to sue for infringement occurring no more than three years back from the time of suit. That regime leaves "little place" for a doctrine that would further limit the timeliness of a copyright owner's suit. See 1 Dobbs § 2.6(1), at 152. In extraordinary circumstances, however, the consequences of a delay in commencing suit may be of sufficient magnitude to warrant, at the very outset of the litigation, curtailment of the relief equitably awardable.

within § 507(b)'s three-year statute of limitations, the District Court granted summary judgment to the defendants, dismissing the entire case on grounds of laches. The trial court's rejection of the entire suit could not stand, the Court of Appeals explained, for it was not within the Judiciary's ken to debate the wisdom of § 507(b)'s three-year look-back prescription. Id ., at 235. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's judgment to this extent: The plaintiffs, even if they might succeed in proving infringement of their copyrighted design, would not be entitled to an order mandating destruction of the housing project. That relief would be inequitable, the Sixth Circuit held, for two reasons: the plaintiffs knew of the defendants' construction plans before the defendants broke ground, yet failed to take readily available measures to stop the project; and the requested relief would "work an unjust hardship" upon the defendants and innocent third parties. Id., at 236 . See also New Era Publications Int'l v. Henry Holt & Co., 873 F.2d 576 , 584-585 (C.A.2 1989) (despite awareness since 1986 that book containing allegedly infringing material would be published in the United States, copyright owner did not seek a restraining order until 1988, after the book had been printed, packed, and shipped; as injunctive relief "would [have] result[ed] in the total destruction of the work," the court "relegat[ed plaintiff] to its damages remedy").

In sum, the courts below erred in treating laches as a complete bar to Petrella's copyright infringement suit. The action was commenced within the bounds of § 507(b), the Act's time-to-sue prescription, and does not present extraordinary circumstances of the kind involved in Chirco and New Era . Petrella notified MGM of her copyright claims before MGM invested millions of dollars in creating a new edition of Raging Bull. And the equitable relief Petrella seeks- e.g., disgorgement of unjust gains and an injunction against future infringement-would not result in "total destruction" of the film, or anything close to it. See New Era, 873 F.2d, at 584 .

royalty to Petrella). Whatever adjustments may be in order in awarding injunctive relief, and in accounting for MGM's gains and profits, on the facts thus far presented, there is no evident basis for immunizing MGM's present and future uses of the copyrighted work, free from any obligation to pay royalties.

For the reasons stated, the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

Justice BREYER, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, and Justice KENNEDY join, dissenting.

Legal systems contain doctrines that help courts avoid the unfairness that might arise were legal rules to apply strictly to every case no matter how unusual the circumstances. "[T]he nature of the equitable," Aristotle long ago observed, is "a correction of law where it is defective owing to its universality." Nicomachean Ethics 99 (D. Ross transl. L. Brown ed. 2009). Laches is one such equitable doctrine. It applies in those extraordinary cases where the plaintiff "unreasonably delays in filing a suit," National Railroad Passenger Corporation v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101 , 121, 122 S.Ct. 2061 , 153 L.Ed.2d 106 (2002), and, as a result, causes "unjust hardship" to the defendant, Chirco v. Crosswinds Communities, Inc ., 474 F.3d 227 , 236 (C.A.6 2007) (emphasis deleted). Its purpose is to avoid "inequity." Galliher v. Cadwell, 145 U.S. 368 , 373, 12 S.Ct. 873 , 36 L.Ed. 738 (1892). And, as Learned Hand pointed out, it may well be

"inequitable for the owner of a copyright, with full notice of an intended infringement, to stand inactive while the proposed infringer spends large sums of money in its exploitation, and to intervene only when his speculation has proved a success." Haas v. Leo Feist, Inc ., 234 F. 105 , 108 (S.D.N.Y.1916).

Today's decision disables federal courts from addressing that inequity. I respectfully dissent.

Circumstances warranting the application of laches in the context of copyright claims are not difficult to imagine. The 3-year limitations period under the Copyright Act may seem brief, but it is not. 17 U.S.C. § 507 (b). That is because it is a rolling limitations period, which restarts upon each "separate accrual" of a claim. See ante, at 1969; 6 W. Patry, Copyright § 20:23, pp. 20-44 to 20-46 (2013). If a defendant reproduces or sells an infringing work on a continuing basis, a plaintiff can sue every 3 years until the copyright term expires-which may be up to 70 years

time, effort, and resources into making the derivative product, the plaintiff will be in a much stronger position to obtain favorable licensing terms through settlement. Or, suppose the plaintiff has waited until he becomes certain that the defendant's production bet paid off, that the derivative work did and would continue to earn money, and that the plaintiff has a chance of obtaining, say, an 80% share of what is now a 90% pure profit stream. (N.B. The plaintiff's profits recovery will be reduced by any "deductible expenses" incurred by the defendant in producing the work, and by any "elements of profits attributable to factors other than the copyrighted work," § 504(b) ). Or, suppose that all of these circumstances exist together.

Cases that present these kinds of delays are not imaginary. One can easily find examples from the lower courts where plaintiffs have brought claims years after they accrued and where delay-related inequity resulted. See, e.g., Ory v. McDonald, 141 Fed.Appx. 581 , 583 (C.A.9 2005), aff'g 2003 WL 22909286 , at *1 (C.D.Cal., Aug. 5, 2003) (claim that a 1960's song infringed the "hook or riff" from the 1926 song "Muskrat Ramble," brought more than 30 years after the song was released); Danjaq LLC v. Sony Corp., 263 F.3d 942 , 952-956 (C.A.9 2001) (claim that seven James Bond films infringed a copyright to a screenplay, brought 19 to 36 years after the films were released, and where "many of the key figures in the creation of the James Bond movies ha[d] died" and "many of the relevant records [went] missing"); Jackson v. Axton, 25 F.3d 884 , 889 (C.A.9 1994), overruled on other grounds, 510 U.S. 517 , 114 S.Ct. 1023 , 127 L.Ed.2d 455 (1994) (claim of coauthorship of the song "Joy to the World," brought 17 years after the plaintiff learned of his claim such that memories faded, the original paper containing the lyrics was lost, the recording studio (with its records) closed, and the defendant had "arranged his business affairs around the Song" for years); Newsome v. Brown, 2005 WL 627639 , at *8-*9 (S.D.N.Y., Mar. 16, 2005) (claim regarding the song "It's a Man's World,"

brought 40 years after first accrual, where the plaintiff's memory had faded and a key piece of evidence was destroyed by fire). See also Chirco, 474 F.3d, at 230-231, 234-236 (claim that condominium design infringed plaintiff's design, brought only 2.5 years (or so) after claim accrued but after condominium was

ever apply laches, irrespective of the length of the plaintiff's delay, the amount of the harm that it caused, or the inequity of permitting the action to go forward.

Why should laches not be available in an appropriate case? Consider the reasons the majority offers. First, the majority says that the 3-year "copyright statute of limitations ... itself takes account of delay," and so additional safeguards like laches are not needed. Ante, at 1972. I agree that sometimes that is so. But I also fear that sometimes it is not. The majority correctly points out that the limitations period limits the retrospective relief a plaintiff can recover. It imposes a cap equal to the profits earned during the prior three years, in addition to any actual damages sustained during this time. Ibid. ; § 504(b). Thus, if the plaintiff waits from, say, 1980 until 2001 to bring suit, she cannot recover profits for the 1980 to 1998 period. But she can recover the defendant's profits from 1998 through 2001, which might be precisely when net revenues turned positive. And she can sue every three years thereafter until the copyright expires, perhaps in the year 2060. If the plaintiff's suit involves the type of inequitable circumstances I have described, her ability to recover profits from 1998 to 2001 and until the copyright expires could be just the kind of unfairness that laches is designed to prevent.

Second, the majority points out that the plaintiff can recover only the defendant's profits less " 'deductible expenses' incurred in generating those profits." Ante, at 1973 (quoting § 504(b) ). In other words, the majority takes assurance from the fact that the Act enables the defendant to recoup his outlays in developing or selling the allegedly infringing work. Again, sometimes that fact will prevent inequitable results. But sometimes it will not. A

mean that the defendant has already recovered the majority of his expenses, and what is left is primarily profit. It may mean that the defendant has dedicated decades of his life to producing the work, such that the loss of a future profit stream (even if he can recover past expenses) is tantamount to the loss of any income in later years. And in circumstances such as those described, it could prove inequitable to give the profit to a plaintiff who has unnecessarily delayed in filing an action. Simply put, the "deductible expenses" provision does not protect the defendant from the potential inequity highlighted by Judge Hand nearly 100 years ago in his influential copyright opinion. That is, it does not stop a copyright-holder (or his heirs) from "stand[ing] inactive while the proposed infringer spends large sums of money" in a risky venture; appearing on the scene only when the venture has proved a success; and thereby collecting substantially more money than he could have obtained at the outset, had he bargained with the investor over a license and royalty fee. Haas, 234 F., at 108 . But cf. id., at 108-109 (plaintiff to receive injunctive relief since one of the defendants was a "deliberate pirate," but profit award to be potentially reduced in light of laches).

Third, the majority says that "[i]nviting individual judges to set a time limit other than the one Congress prescribed" in the Copyright Act would "tug against the uniformity Congress sought to achieve when it enacted § 507(b)." Ante, at 1975. But why does the majority believe that part of what Congress intended to "achieve" was the elimination of the equitable defense of laches? As the majority recognizes, Congress enacted a uniform statute of limitations for copyright claims in 1957 so that federal courts, in determining timeliness, no longer had to borrow from state law which varied from place to place. See ante, at 1968 - 1969. Nothing in the 1957 Act-or anywhere else in the text of the copyright statute-indicates that Congress also sought to bar the operation

of laches. The Copyright Act is silent on the subject. And silence is consistent, not inconsistent, with the application of equitable doctrines.

For one thing, the legislative history for § 507 shows that Congress chose not to "specifically enumerat[e] certain equitable considerations which might be advanced in connection with civil copyright actions" because it understood that " '[f]ederal district courts, generally, recognize these equitable defenses anyway.' " S.Rep. No. 1014, 85th Cong., 1st Sess., 2-3 (1957) (quoting the House Judiciary Committee). Courts prior to 1957 had often applied laches in federal copyright cases. See, e.g., Callaghan v. Myers, 128 U.S. 617 , 658-659, 9 S.Ct. 177 , 32 L.Ed. 547 (1888) (assuming laches was an available defense in a copyright suit); Edwin L. Wiegand Co. v. Harold E. Trent Co., 122 F.2d 920 , 925 (C.A.3 1941) (applying laches to bar a copyright suit); D.O. Haynes & Co. v. Druggists' Circular, 32 F.2d 215 , 216-218 (C.A.2 1929) (same). Congress expected they would continue to do so.

Furthermore, this Court has held that federal courts may "appl[y] equitable doctrines that may toll or limit the time period" for suit when applying a statute of limitations, because a statutory "filing period" is a "requirement" subject to adjustment " 'when equity so requires.' " Morgan, 536 U.S., at 121-122 , 122 S.Ct. 2061 (quoting Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385 , 398, 102 S.Ct. 1127 , 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982) ; emphasis added). This Court has read laches into statutes of limitations otherwise silent on the topic of equitable doctrines in a multitude of contexts, as have lower courts. See, e.g., Morgan, supra, at 121 , 122 S.Ct. 2061 ("an employer may raise a laches defense" under

Patterson v. Hewitt, 195 U.S. 309 , 319-320, 25 S.Ct. 35 , 49 L.Ed. 214 (1904) (similar, in the case of a property action brought within New Mexico's statute of limitations); Alsop v. Riker, 155 U.S. 448 , 460, 15 S.Ct. 162 , 39 L.Ed. 218 (1894) (holding that "independently of the statute of limitations," the contract action was barred "because of laches"); Teamsters & Employers Welfare Trust of Ill. v. Gorman Bros. Ready Mix, 283 F.3d 877 , 883 (C.A.7 2002) (laches available "in a suit against an [Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974] (ERISA) ] plan for benefits"); Hot Wax, Inc. v. Turtle Wax, Inc., 191 F.3d 813 , 822-823 (C.A.7 1999) (laches available in a Lanham Act suit filed within the limitations period). Unless Congress indicates otherwise, courts normally assume that equitable rules continue to operate alongside limitations periods, and that equity applies both to plaintiffs and to defendants. See Astoria Fed. Sav. & Loan Assn. v. Solimino, 501 U.S. 104 , 108, 111 S.Ct. 2166 , 115 L.Ed.2d 96 (1991) ("Congress is understood to legislate against a background of common-law adjudicatory principles" and to incorporate them " except when a statutory purpose to the contrary is evident" (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)); Porter v. Warner Holding Co., 328 U.S. 395 , 398, 66 S.Ct. 1086 , 90 L.Ed. 1332 (1946) ("Unless otherwise provided by statute, all the inherent equitable powers of the District Court are available for the proper and complete exercise of that jurisdiction").

The Court today comes to a different conclusion. It reads § 507(b)' s silence as preserving doctrines that lengthen the period for suit when equitable considerations favor the plaintiff ( e.g., equitable tolling), but as foreclosing a doctrine that would shorten the period when equity favors the defendant ( i.e., laches). See ante, at 1975 - 1976, 1977 - 1978. I do not understand the logic of reading a silent statute in this manner.

Fourth, the majority defends its rule by observing that laches was "developed by courts of equity," and that this Court has "cautioned against invoking laches to bar legal relief" even following the merger of law and equity in 1938. Ante, at 1973 - 1974. The majority refers to three cases that offer support for this proposition, but none is determinative. In

the first, Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U.S. 392 , 66 S.Ct. 582 , 90 L.Ed. 743 (1946), the Court said:

"If Congress explicitly puts a limit upon the time for enforcing a right which it created, there is an end of the matter.

. . . . .

"Traditionally and for good reasons, statutes of limitation are not controlling measures of equitable relief." Id ., at 395-396, 66 S.Ct. 582 .

This statement, however, constituted part of the Court's explanation as to why a federal statute, silent about limitations, should be applied consistently with "historic principles of equity in the enforcement of federally-created equitable rights" rather than with New York's statute of limitations. Id., at 395 , 66 S.Ct. 582 . The case had nothing to do with whether laches governs in actions at law. The lawsuit in Holmberg had been brought "in equity," and the Court remanded for a determination of whether the petitioners were

Lampf, Pleva, Lipkind, Prupis & Petigrow v. Gilbertson, 501 U.S. 350 , 363, 111 S.Ct. 2773 , 115 L.Ed.2d 321 (1991) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); Merck, supra, at 650-652, 130 S.Ct. 1784 . Merck did not suggest that statutes of limitations are always or normally inconsistent with equitable doctrines when plaintiffs seek damages. It simply found additional support for its conclusion in a case that this Court decided before the merger of law and equity. And here, unlike in Merck, the statute of limitations is not accompanied by a corollary statute of repose.

Third, in County of Oneida v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y., 470 U.S. 226 , 105 S.Ct. 1245 , 84 L.Ed.2d 169 (1985), the Court said in a footnote that "application of the equitable defense of laches in an action at law would be novel indeed." Id., at 245, n. 16 , 105 S.Ct. 1245 . This statement was made in light of special policies related to Indian tribes, which the Court went on to discuss in the following sentences. Ibid. In any event, Oneida did not resolve whether laches was available to the defendants, for the lower court had not ruled on the issue. Id., at 244-245 , 105 S.Ct. 1245 .

In sum, there is no reason to believe that the Court meant any of its statements in Holmberg, Merck, or Oneida to announce a general rule about the availability of laches in actions for legal relief, whenever Congress provides a statute of limitations. To the contrary, the Court has said more than once that a defendant could invoke laches in an action for damages (even though no assertion of the defense had actually been made in the case), despite a fixed statute of limitations. See Morgan, 536 U.S., at 116-119, 121-122 , 122 S.Ct. 2061 (laches available in hostile work environment claims seeking damages under Title VII); Bay Area Laundry, 522 U.S., at 205 , 118 S.Ct. 542 (laches available in actions for "withdrawal liability assessment[s]" under the MPPAA). Lower courts have come to similar holdings in a wide array of circumstances-often approving not only of the availability of the laches defense, but of its application to the case at hand. E.g., Cayuga Indian Nation of N.Y. v. Pataki, 413 F.3d 266 , 274-277 (C.A.2 2005) (laches available in a "possessory land claim" in which the District Court awarded damages, whether "characterized

as an action at law or in equity," and dismissing the action due to laches); Teamsters, 283 F.3d, at 881-883 (laches available in suits under ERISA for benefits, but not warranted in that case); Hot Wax, 191 F.3d, at 822-827 ("[T]he application of the doctrine of laches to Hot Wax's Lanham Act claims [requesting damages] by the district court was proper"); A.C. Aukerman Co. v. R.L. Chaides

seeking legal relief, the majority places insufficient weight upon the rules and practice of modern litigation. Since 1938, Congress and the Federal Rules have replaced what would once have been actions "at law" and actions "in equity" with the "civil action." Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 2 ("There is one form of action-the civil action"). A federal civil action is subject to both equitable and legal defenses. Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 8(c)(1) ("In responding to a pleading, a party must affirmatively state any avoidance or affirmative defense, including: ... estoppel ... laches ... [and] statute of limitations"). Accordingly, since 1938, federal courts have frequently allowed defendants to assert what were formerly equitable defenses-including laches-in what were formerly legal actions. See supra, at 1984 - 1985 (citing cases). Why should copyright be treated differently? Indeed, the majority concedes that " restitutional remedies" like "profits" (which are often claimed in copyright cases) defy clear classification as "equitable" or "legal." Ante, at 1967, n. 1 (internal quotation marks omitted). Why should lower courts have to make these uneasy and unnatural distinctions?

Fifth, the majority believes it can prevent the inequities that laches seeks to avoid through the use of a different doctrine, namely equitable estoppel. Ante, at 1977. I doubt that is so. As the majority recognizes, "the two defenses are differently oriented." Ibid. The "gravamen" of estoppel is a misleading representation by the plaintiff that the defendant relies on to his detriment. 6 Patry, Copyright § 20:58, at 20-110 to 20-112. The gravamen of laches is the plaintiff's unreasonable delay, and the consequent prejudice to the defendant. Id., § 20:54, at 20-96. Where due to the passage of time, evidence favorable to the defense has disappeared or the defendant has continued to invest in a derivative work, what misleading representation by the plaintiff is there to estop?

In sum, as the majority says, the doctrine of laches may occupy only a " 'little place' " in a regime based upon statutes

of

we hold, is contrary to § 507(b) and this Court's precedent on the province of laches.

The Copyright Act (Act), 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., grants copyright protection to original works of authorship. § 102(a). Four aspects of copyright law bear explanation at the outset.

First, the length of a copyright term. Under the Act, a copyright "vests initially in the author or authors of the work," who may transfer ownership to a third party. § 201. The Act confers on a copyright owner certain exclusive rights, including the rights to reproduce and distribute the work and to develop and market derivative works. § 106. Copyrighted works published before 1978-as was the work at issue-are protected for an initial period of 28 years, which may be-and in this case was-extended for a renewal period of up to 67 years. § 304(a). From and after January

12-150.4 (2013) ("If infringement occurred within three years prior to filing, the action will not be barred even if prior infringements by the same party as to the same work are barred because they occurred more than three years previously.").

by Martin Scorcese and starring Robert De Niro, who won a Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of LaMotta. MGM continues to market the film, and has converted it into formats unimagined in 1980, including DVD and Blu-ray.

Frank Petrella died in 1981, during the initial terms of the copyrights in the screenplays and book. As this Court's decision in Stewart confirmed, Frank Petrella's renewal rights reverted to his heirs, who could renew the copyrights unburdened by any assignment previously made by the author. See 495 U.S., at 220-221 , 110 S.Ct. 1750 (relying on Court's earlier

owner from sitting still, doing nothing, waiting to see what the outcome of an alleged infringer's investment will be. See Brief for Respondents 48. In this case, MGM stresses, "[Petrella] conceded that she waited to file because 'the film was deeply in debt and in the red and would probably never recoup.' " Id ., at 47 (quoting from App. 110). The Ninth Circuit similarly faulted Petrella for waiting to sue until the film Raging Bull "made money." 695 F.3d, at 953 (internal quotation marks omitted). See also post, at 1980 - 1981 (deploring plaintiffs who wait to see whether the allegedly infringing work makes money).

It is hardly incumbent on copyright owners, however, to challenge each and every actionable infringement. And there is nothing untoward about waiting to see whether an infringer's exploitation undercuts the value of the copyrighted work, has no effect on the original work, or even complements it. Fan sites prompted by a book or film, for example, may benefit the copyright owner. See Wu, Tolerated Use, 31 Colum. J.L. & Arts 617 , 619-620 (2008). Even if an infringement is harmful, the harm may be too small to justify the cost of litigation.

If the rule were, as MGM urges, "sue soon, or forever hold your peace," copyright owners would have to mount a federal case fast to stop seemingly innocuous infringements, lest those infringements eventually grow in magnitude. Section 507(b)'s three-year limitations period, however, coupled to the separate-accrual rule, see supra, at 1968 - 1970, avoids such

). Any

Chirco v. Crosswinds Communities, Inc., 474 F.3d 227 (C.A.6 2007), is illustrative. In that case, the defendants were alleged to have used without permission, in planning and building a housing development, the plaintiffs' copyrighted architectural design. Long aware of the defendants' project, the plaintiffs took no steps to halt the housing development until more than 168 units were built, 109 of which were occupied. Id ., at 230. Although the action was filed

early knowledge of Petrella's claims, the protection MGM might have achieved through pursuit of a declaratory judgment action, the extent to which MGM's investment was protected by the separate-accrual rule, the court's authority to order injunctive relief "on such terms as it may deem reasonable," § 502(a), and any other considerations that would justify adjusting injunctive relief or profits. See Haas v. Leo Feist, Inc., 234 F. 105 , 107-108 (S.D.N.Y.1916) (adjudicating copyright infringement suit on the merits and decreeing injunctive relief, but observing that, in awarding profits, account may be taken of copyright owner's inaction until infringer had spent large sums exploiting the work at issue). See also Tr. of Oral Arg. 23 (Government observation that, in fashioning equitable remedies, court has considerable leeway; it could, for example, allow MGM to continue using Raging Bull as a derivative work upon payment of a reasonable

after the author's death. § 302(a) (works created after January 1, 1978, are protected until 70 years after the author's death); § 304(a) (works created before January 1, 1978, are protected for 28 years plus a 67-year renewal period). If, for example, a work earns no money for 20 years, but then, after development expenses have been incurred, it earns profits for the next 30, a plaintiff can sue in year 21 and at regular 3-year intervals thereafter. Each time the plaintiff will collect the defendant's profits earned during the prior three years, unless he settles for a lump sum along the way. The defendant will recoup no more than his outlays and any "elements of profit attributable to factors other than the copyrighted work." §§ 504(a)(1), (b).

A 20-year delay in bringing suit could easily prove inequitable. Suppose, for example, the plaintiff has deliberately waited for the death of witnesses who might prove the existence of understandings about a license to reproduce the copyrighted work, or who might show that the plaintiff's work was in fact derived from older copyrighted materials that the defendant has licensed. Or, suppose the plaintiff has delayed in bringing suit because he wants to avoid bargaining with the defendant up front over a license. He knows that if he delays legal action, and the defendant invests

built, apartments were sold, and 109 families had moved in).

Consider, too, the present case. The petitioner claims the MGM film Raging Bull violated a copyright originally owned by her father, which she inherited and then renewed in 1991. She waited 18 years after renewing the copyright, until 2009, to bring suit. During those 18 years, MGM spent millions of dollars developing different editions of, and marketing, the film. See App. to Pet. for Cert. 13a. MGM also entered into numerous licensing agreements, some of which allowed television networks to broadcast the film through 2015. Id., at 14a. Meanwhile, three key witness died or became unavailable, making it more difficult for MGM to prove that it did not infringe the petitioner's copyright (either because the 1963 screenplay was in fact derived from a different book, the rights to which MGM owned under a nonchallenged license, or because MGM held a license to the screenplay under a 1976 agreement that it signed with Jake LaMotta, who coauthored the screenplay with the petitioner's father, see id. at 3a, 5a; App. 128-129, 257-258, 266-267). Consequently, I believe the Court of Appeals acted lawfully in dismissing the suit due to laches.

Long delays do not automatically prove inequity, but, depending upon the circumstances, they raise that possibility. Indeed, suppose that that the copyright-holders in the song cases cited above, or their heirs, facing sudden revivals in demand or eventual deaths of witnesses, had brought their claims 50, or even 60 years after those claims first accrued. Or suppose that the loss of evidence was clearly critical to the defendants' abilities to prove their cases. The Court holds that insofar as a copyright claim seeks damages, a court cannot

plaintiff's delay may

Title VII); Bay Area Laundry and Dry Cleaning Pension Trust Fund v. Ferbar Corp. of Cal., 522 U.S. 192 , 205, 118 S.Ct. 542 , 139 L.Ed.2d 553 (1997) (similar, in respect to suits under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (MPPAA)); Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136 , 155, 87 S.Ct. 1507 , 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967) (similar, in respect to an action for declaratory and injunctive relief under the Administrative Procedure Act);

"chargeable with laches." Id., at 393, 397 , 66 S.Ct. 582 .

The second case the majority cites, Merck & Co. v. Reynolds, 559 U.S. 633 , 130 S.Ct. 1784 , 176 L.Ed.2d 582 (2010), provides some additional support, but not much. There, the Court cited a 1935 case for the proposition that " '[l]aches within the term of the statute of limitations is no defense at law.' " Id., at 652 , 130 S.Ct. 1784 (quoting United States v. Mack, 295 U.S. 480 , 489, 55 S.Ct. 813 , 79 L.Ed. 1559 (1935) ). But Merck concerned a federal securities statute that contained both a 2-year statute of limitations, running from the time of "discovery," and a 5-year statute of repose, running from the time of a "violation." Id., at 638, 130 S.Ct. 1784 (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1658 (b) ). Given that repose statutes set "an outside limit" on suit and are generally "inconsistent with tolling" and similar equitable doctrines, the Court held that the 2-year limitations period at issue was not subject to an "inquiry notice" rule or, by analogy, to laches.

Constr. Co., 960 F.2d 1020 , 1030-1032, 1045-1046 (C.A.Fed.1992) (en banc) (laches available in patent suit claiming damages, and remanding for whether the defense was successful); Cornetta v. United States, 851 F.2d 1372 , 1376-1383 (C.A.Fed.1988) (en banc) (same, in suit seeking backpay). Even if we focus only upon federal copyright litigation, four of the six Circuits to have considered the matter have held that laches can bar claims for legal relief. See 695 F.3d 946 , 956 (C.A.9 2012) (case below, barring all copyright claims due to laches); Peter Letterese & Assocs., Inc. v. World Inst. of Scientology Enterprises, Int'l, 533 F.3d 1287 , 1319-1322 (C.A.11 2008) (laches can bar copyright claims for retrospective damages); Chirco, 474 F.3d, at 234-236 ("laches can be argued 'regardless of whether the suit is at law or in equity,' " and holding that while the plaintiffs could obtain damages and an injunction, their request for additional equitable relief "smack[ed] of the inequity against which Judge Hand cautioned in Haas and which the judicial system should abhor" (quoting Teamsters, supra, at 881) ); Jacobsen v. Deseret Book Co., 287 F.3d 936 , 950-951 (C.A.10 2002) (laches available in " 'rare cases,' " and failing to draw a distinction in the type of remedy sought (citation omitted). But see New Era Publications Int'l v. Henry Holt & Co ., 873 F.2d 576 , 584-585 (C.A.2 1989) (laches can bar claims for injunctive relief, but not damages, under the Copyright Act); Lyons Partnership, L.P. v. Morris Costumes, Inc ., 243 F.3d 789 , 798-799 (C.A.4 2001) (laches unavailable in copyright cases altogether).

Perhaps more importantly, in permitting laches to apply to copyright claims seeking equitable relief but not to those

limitations. Ante, at 1977 (quoting 1 D. Dobbs, Law of Remedies § 2.6(1), p. 152 (2d ed. 1993)). But that place is an important one. In those few and unusual cases where a plaintiff unreasonably delays in bringing suit and consequently causes inequitable harm to the defendant, the doctrine permits a court to bring about a fair result. I see no reason to erase the doctrine from copyright's lexicon, not even in respect to limitations periods applicable to damages actions.

Consequently, with respect, I dissent.