Supreme Court sides with music producer in copyright case over sample in Flo Rida hit

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a music producer in a copyright case, allowing him to seek more than a decade’s worth of damages for a sample used in a Flo Rida hit.

The 6-3 decision came in a case brought by Sherman Nealy, who sued over music used in rapper Flo Rida’s 2008 song “In the Ayer.” It was also featured on TV shows such as ‘So You Think You Can Dance’.

Nealy says he didn’t find out that his former collaborator had made a deal with a record company that allowed the sampling until 2016. Two years later, he sued for damages dating back to the song’s release.

Copyright law states that lawsuits must be filed within three years of the infringement, or from the time the infringement is discovered. The record company, Warner Chappell, argued that Nealy would only be entitled to up to three years’ worth of royalties.

The question of how far damages can extend has divided appeals courts, and it’s a question that industry groups like the Recording Industry Association of America have asked the Supreme Court to decide.

The opinion released Thursday was written by Justice Elena Kagan, along with her liberal colleagues Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, as well as conservative Justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

“There is no time limit for monetary recovery. Thus, a copyright owner who timely filed a claim is entitled to damages for infringement regardless of when the infringement occurred,” Kagan wrote.

Three conservative justices disagreed. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the majority sidestepped the important question: whether Nealy’s claim was valid to begin with, or whether copyright holders would have to show some fraud to sue older infringements. According to the dissenters, the case should have been dismissed.