The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a
district court's infringement determination, finding that the
copyright owner's claims were timely since they were brought
within three years of discovering the infringement. Martinelli
v. Hearst Newspapers LLC, Case No. 22-20333 (5th Cir. Apr. 13,
2023) (Barksdale, Southwick, Higginson, JJ.)
In 2015, Sotheby's International Realty commissioned Antonio
Martinelli to photograph an Irish estate owned by the Guinness
family. Martinelli took seven photographs of the property, and the
property was subsequently listed for sale. On March 7, 2017, Hearst
Newspapers used those commissioned photographs in news articles
discussing the sale in various Hearst publications. Over the next
few years, Martinelli learned about Hearst's use of the
photographs. For instance, on November 17, 2018, Martinelli learned
about the use of the photographs in the Houston Chronicle,
and between September 2019 and May 2020, Martinelli
