Kenneth Anthony Wright v. Dj International Records/pop Star Publishing

United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Submitted May 9, 2025*
Decided May 12, 2025
Before
MICHAEL Y. SCUDDER, Circuit Judge
AMY J. ST. EVE, Circuit Judge
JOSHUA P. KOLAR, Circuit Judge
No. 24-3025
KENNETH ANTHONY WRIGHT,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
DJ INTERNATIONAL RECORDS/POP
STAR PUBLISHING, et al.,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District
Court for the Northern District of
Illinois, Eastern Division.
No. 21-cv-5085
Franklin U. Valderrama,
Judge.
O R D E R
Kenneth Wright, a music producer and artist professionally known as
“Romance,” sued several music companies for copyright infringement, breach of
* The appellees were not served with process and are not participating in this
appeal. We have agreed to decide the case without oral argument because the brief and
record adequately present the facts and legal arguments, and oral argument would not
significantly aid the court. F ED. R. A PP . P. 34(a)(2)(C).
NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with F ED. R. APP . P. 32.1

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contract, and deceptive business practices. The district court dismissed the complaint as
untimely. We affirm.
In 1986, Wright applied for a copyright for his song called “All Dis Music.” Later
that year he entered into a recording contract in which he assigned all property rights in
his recordings, including the copyrights, to DJ International Records in exchange for
royalties. One week after Wright signed this contract, the United States Copyright
Office issued a copyright registration in his name for one sound cassette and the lyrics
of “All Dis Music.” Four months later, in 1987, Wright and Pop Star Publishing entered
into a songwriter’s agreement under which Pop Star employed Wright to provide
services as a songwriter and composer, and Wright agreed to assign to Pop Star all
rights for any musical works that he wrote, composed, created, or conceived with Pop
Star. Soon thereafter, “All Dis Music” was released in the United Kingdom under
FFRR/London Records. The song was never released in the United States.
In 2021, Wright sued DJ International, Pop Star, and other music companies,
seeking damages and equitable relief for copyright infringement, 17 U.S.C. § 106; breach
of contract; and violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business
Practices Act (ICFA), 815 ILCS 505/2. The district court granted the motion to dismiss of
one of the music companies, SoundExchange, on grounds that Wright’s claims against it
were untimely and his allegations otherwise failed to state a claim. The court also
dismissed Wright’s copyright-infringement claims against DJ International and Pop Star
on untimeliness grounds but granted Wright leave to amend his complaint to allege
that he terminated his copyright assignment before the defendants continued
distributing, selling, or licensing his music.
Wright’s second amended complaint did not address the topic of termination
and instead elaborated that he owns the copyright for “All Dis Music” because he
applied for it before signing the agreement with DJ International. He also alleged that
the defendants infringed upon this copyright by releasing and marketing the song in
various formats and receiving profits from 1986 onward. Wright did not allege that he
terminated the copyright assignments.
The district court screened the second amended complaint under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915(e)(2) and dismissed it as time-barred. Copyright-infringement claims disputing
ownership have a three-year statute of limitations under the Copyright Act,
see 15 U.S.C. § 507(b), and accrue when the claimant learns of a competing claim of
copyright ownership. Consumer Health Info. Corp. v. Amylin Pharms., Inc., 819 F.3d 992,
996 (7th Cir. 2016). The court explained that Wright’s claims, filed in 2021, were well out

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of time, given that they accrued when he assigned all rights in the copyright to DJ
International in 1986 and to Pop Star in 1987. The court declined to exercise
supplemental jurisdiction over Wright’s state-law claims.
On appeal, Wright maintains that his suit is timely because a fresh three-year
statute of limitations starts to run after each act of copyright infringement, and here he
alleged that new acts of infringement occurred as recently as 2018 or 2019. But this
separate-accrual rule applies to ordinary infringement suits, not suits in which the
central dispute is copyright ownership. See Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.,
572 U.S. 663, 671 (2014); Consumer Health Info. Corp., 819 F.3d at 996. When, as here, the
“gravamen” of a copyright dispute concerns copyright ownership, the claim accrues
when the claimant learned, or reasonably should have learned, that the defendants
repudiated his ownership. Consumer Health Info. Corp., 819 F.3d at 997; see also Motorola
Sols., Inc. v. Hytera Commc’ns Corp., 108 F.4th 458, 479 (7th Cir. 2024) (applying discovery
rule to determine when a claim accrues under § 507(b)). Wright reasonably should have
known that he assigned his copyrights when he signed the recording contract with DJ
International in 1986 and the songwriter’s agreement with Pop Star in 1987. And Wright
did not allege any facts suggesting that he terminated the assignments in accordance
with the requirements of 17 U.S.C. § 203 (allowing termination of copyright transfers
under certain conditions). In sum, Wright’s 2021 suit to reclaim copyright ownership is
at least 34 years too late.
AFFIRMED

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