Artist Rights Groups Back Starz in MGM Licensing Row

Most artists are self-employed, earning modest livings and lack a systematic means of identifying copyright infringements, so a strict three-year limit on recoverable damages regardless of when a claim accrues would be a hardship, artists' rights organizations told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday. In an amicus brief backing plaintiff-appellee Starz (docket 21-55379), organizations including the Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America and Songwriters Guild of America said defendant-appellant MGM -- in asking the court for that limit -- is "sharply limiting the ability of blameless artists to recover damages" and discouraging private enforcement of infringements. MGM is appealing a lower court's denial of a motion to dismiss 378 of Starz's 1,020 copyright claims on MGM licensing content to Starz and subsequently to other content service providers while Starz allegedly had exclusive license. Santa Clara University law professor Tyler Ochoa in an amicus brief said MGM's read of Supreme Court precedent is wrong and there should be a presumption that acts happening more than three years before filing are barred, but that copyright owners can recover damages if shown they didn't and couldn't discover the infringement earlier. MGM's outside counsel didn't comment Thursday.