Sutton Roley v. New World Pictures, Ltd.

19 F.3d 479 1994 Copr.L.Dec. P 27,233 , 30 U.S.P.Q.2d 1654 Sutton ROLEY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW WORLD PICTURES, LTD., aka: New World Entertainment, Ltd.; Odyssey Film Partners, Ltd., aka: Odyssey Entertainment, Ltd.; Walter Coblenz; William Condon; Ginny Cerrella, Defendants- Appellees. No. 92-56116. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Jan. 31, 1994. Decided March 23, 1994. Paul Caruso, Beverly Hills, CA, for plaintiff-appellant. Ronald M. Monitz, Cooper, Epstein & Hurewitz, Beverly Hills, CA, for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before: TANG, PREGERSON, and NOONAN, Circuit Judges. TANG, Circuit Judge: 1 This appeal arises from Sutton Roley's ("Roley") action against Walter Coblenz ("Coblenz") and New World Entertainment Limited ("New World") for copyright infringement. Roley appeals the grant of two summary judgments against him and in favor of Coblenz and New World. Roley challenges the district court's conclusion that his infringement claims are barred by the copyright statute of limitations at 17 U.S.C. Sec. 507 (b). BACKGROUND 2 Some time before 1972, Roley wrote…