Mariah Carey now Tupac—how does copyright law handle decades-old songs?

Almost three decades after its initial release, rapper Tupac’s hit song  Dear Mama is now the subject of a fresh copyright lawsuit that was filed this week in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

How does the Copyright Act work when dealing with a work that was created years ago?

Zach Al-Tabbaa, a patent, trademark and copyright attorney at US firm Hall Estill, breaks down how the law generally works in cases like this—and compares it to the recent lawsuit against Mariah Carey for the song All I Want for Christmas is You.

“Even though there is a three-year time limit set by the Copyright Act, musicians, producers, and other artists can still sue for copyright infringement decades later as the law says you have to start your legal action within three years of when the claim of infringement ‘accrued.’

“There are two ways courts decide when this accrual time starts: the first is known as the injury rule and the second is the discovery rule,” explains Al-Tabbaa.

“According to the injury rule, each time someone breaks the copyright rules, it is treated like a separate event. It does not matter if the person who owns the copyright knows about it or not—it counts from when the rule was broken,” explains Al-Tabbaa.

“On the other hand, the discovery rule says the time limit starts when the copyright owner finds out or should have known about the rule-breaking.

“So, if someone can prove they only recently found out about the rule-breaking, they might still be able to sue within the three-year time limit, even if the alleged infringement happened more than three years ago.”

“This is the idea behind both the fresh Mariah Carey and Tupac lawsuits. The Tupac case is similar to the Mariah Carey case because both involve works created decades ago. However, they differ in the nature of the claims.

“Mariah Carey's case is primarily centred around copyright infringement, while the Tupac case is primarily centred around the misappropriation of copyright rights,” says Al-Tabbaa.

“In Mariah Carey's situation, Vince Vance (Andy Stone) from the band Vince Vance and the Valiants alleges that Mariah Carey's hugely popular song All I Want for Christmas Is You copied his own song with the same name.

“On the other hand, the Tupac case involves Terrence Thomas, also known as "DJ Master Tee," who claims that Tony D Pizarro, along with executives at Interscope Records and Universal Music Group, conspired to misappropriate Master Tee's common law publishing copyright and Master Recording Copyright,” says Al-Tabbaa.

“Thomas claims that they took on the identity of the writer/publisher of the famous hip-hop song Dear Mama, which he claims was deceitful as he was the original writer/publisher of the song,” explains Al-Tabbaa.

“In Thomas’ complaint, he said that Pizarro stole the common law copyrights from him and hid the proper credit and royalties from him until this year when the Dear Mama doc-u-series was released on  Hulu.

“Thomas said that he was receiving publishing royalties for radio plays of Dear Mama, but that because he is a relatively unsophisticated producer, he was not aware until the release of the doc-u-series that he should have been receiving much more royalties than what he was actually getting.

“Thomas also claims copyright infringement, but the main focus of this suit is the alleged conversion or theft of his common law copyrights,” explains Al-Tabbaa.

“These lawsuits concerning copyrights from works created decades ago, whether they succeed or not, could set a precedent for similar cases.

“While there are difficulties in pursuing such suits, copyright law doesn't prohibit artists from asserting their rights many years later, particularly given the growing popularity of doc-u-series and nostalgic content,” says Al-Tabbaa.

“Musician royalties have consistently been a source of dispute in the industry, and it's possible that the resolution of the Tupac case might inspire other artists to reexamine their royalty payments to ensure they are being adequately compensated for their contributions,” explains Al-Tabbaa.

“There are proponents on both sides of the issue regarding the three-year damages rule, but the Supreme Court granted certiorari for the Nealy v Warner Chappell Music, matter on September 29 and will hopefully provide some clarity here.

“The specific issue they are addressing is: Whether, under the discovery accrual rule applied by the circuit courts and the Copyright Act's statute of limitations for civil actions, 17 U. S. C. §507(b), a copyright plaintiff can recover damages for acts that allegedly occurred more than three years before the filing of a lawsuit,” says Al-Tabbaa.

“I am looking forward to the briefs on this one and think the whole music industry is watching to see what happens here,” concludes Al-Tabba.