Winning a judgment against a movie studio for copyright infringement is one of the toughest litigation assignments out there. But it might be a bit easier, thanks to a victory this week at the U.S. Supreme Court by the unusual duo of entertainment lawyer Glen Kulik of Kulik Gottesman & Siegel and professor Stephanos Bibas of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
In a 6-3 decision issued on Monday, the Supreme Court revived a copyright case in which the daughter of deceased screenwriter Frank Petrella alleged that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.’s 1980 film “Raging Bull” was lifted from a screenplay he wrote. The ruling will be useful to all copyright holders because it clarified that the defense of laches—which prohibits unreasonable delay in filing lawsuits—isn’t a barrier to recovering damages in copyright cases filed within the statute of limitations.
