17 U.S.C. § 507
Section 507 · Limitations on actions
This is § 101 of the Copyright Act of 1976
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 312 court decisions — leading case Wood v. Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce, Inc. (1983)
Most recently applied in Romanova v. Amilus Inc. (May 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 17 U.S.C. § 101 · 17 U.S.C. § 106 · 17 U.S.C. § 501
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Criminal Proceedings.—Except as expressly provided otherwise in this title, no criminal proceeding shall be maintained under the provisions of this title unless it is commenced within 5 years after the cause of action arose.
(b) Civil Actions.—No civil action shall be maintained under the provisions of this title unless it is commenced within three years after the claim accrued.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Section 507, which is substantially identical with section 115 of the present law [section 115 of former title 17], establishes a three-year statute of limitations for both criminal proceedings and civil actions. The language of this section, which was adopted by the act of September 7, 1957 (71 Stat. 633) [Pub. L. 85–313, §1, Sept. 7, 1957, 71 Stat. 633], represents a reconciliation of views, and has therefore been left unaltered.
Amendments
1998—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 105–304 substituted “Except as expressly provided otherwise in this title, no” for “No”.
1997—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 105–147 substituted “5” for “three”.
Cross References
Limitation on prosecution, trial, or punishment of non-capital offenses generally, see section 3282 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.