When does the three-year civil copyright limitation component expire?

Section 507(b) requires a civil copyright action within three years after the claim accrues. This calculator counts from an independently established accrual date. It does not choose between competing accrual theories or decide what damages are recoverable. Warner Chappell assumed discovery-rule timeliness for the damages question it decided.

Responsible actor. The plaintiff commencing the civil copyright action.

Identify the specific claim and alleged infringement.

Determine the governing accrual rule and supporting facts.

Review any different claims, tolling issue and damages question independently.

Use for a particular civil copyright claim whose legally applicable accrual event is already established. Do not automatically enter discovery or infringement without that review.

1. Accrual date established under the law governing the particular copyright claim
2. For the established federal civil court component, FRCP 6(a)(1) excludes the trigger day and includes intermediate weekends and holidays. A period in months or years uses its corresponding calendar date, rather than a fixed number of days. The final weekend or legal holiday moves forward under Rule 6(a). A target month or year without the corresponding day requires separate endpoint review; this calculator refuses that input.
3. Commence the particular civil copyright action in the proper court. Preserve the accrual analysis and filing receipt; the result does not determine the damages period.

Retained 2024 annual U.S. Code, laws in effect January 6, 2025. The subsequent-law review covers the retained 119th Congress corpus through Public Law 119-118, approved September 30, 2026. Its scoped candidate findings do not establish every claim-specific exception or later judicial application. This page requires the stated covered cause and legally established event. Court computation uses the retained December 1, 2025 FRCP compilation; identified agency regulations use their separately stated 2026 API editions.

The calendar covers established events and results from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2033. OPM observations for 2025–2030 are independently checked. Dates in 2031–2033 are standing-rule projections under 5 U.S.C. § 6103, not published OPM schedules. Additional presidential, congressional or district-state holidays, amendments and actual clerk inaccessibility require separate review. Inauguration Day is not treated as a nationwide district-court holiday. The coverage boundary does not establish statutory applicability or lateness.

Fictitious example

Fictitious independently established facts. Use for a particular civil copyright claim whose legally applicable accrual event is already established. Do not automatically enter discovery or infringement without that review.

Fictitious independently established events and classifications. The displayed result is this one untolled component. Securities earlier-of comparisons and alternative wage classifications are separately identified. These examples do not determine accrual, discovery, statutory liability, the actual forum, an exception, a completed filing or an unrecorded closure. Use for a particular civil copyright claim whose legally applicable accrual event is already established. Do not automatically enter discovery or infringement without that review.

Nealy’s limited question

The 2024 decision does not itself establish discovery-rule applicability for every copyright claim. Its damages holding rests on the stated assumption.

Criminal period

Section 507(a) concerns criminal proceedings and is not the three-year civil preset.

Multiple claims

Different asserted claims can have different established accrual events. One entered date does not resolve every infringement.

Calendar and endpoint coverage

The calendar covers established events and results from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2033. OPM observations for 2025–2030 are independently checked. Dates in 2031–2033 are standing-rule projections under 5 U.S.C. § 6103, not published OPM schedules. Additional presidential, congressional or district-state holidays, amendments and actual clerk inaccessibility require separate review. Inauguration Day is not treated as a nationwide district-court holiday. The coverage boundary does not establish statutory applicability or lateness.

• Use for a particular civil copyright claim whose legally applicable accrual event is already established. Do not automatically enter discovery or infringement without that review.
• The calculation supplies the stated component on established facts. Unmodeled tolling, competing components and claim-specific exceptions require separate controlling review.

• Identify the specific claim and alleged infringement.
• Determine the governing accrual rule and supporting facts.
• Review any different claims, tolling issue and damages question independently.
• The 2024 decision does not itself establish discovery-rule applicability for every copyright claim. Its damages holding rests on the stated assumption.
• Section 507(a) concerns criminal proceedings and is not the three-year civil preset.
• Different asserted claims can have different established accrual events. One entered date does not resolve every infringement.
• For this federal civil court component, FRCP 3 uses filing the complaint to commence the action, subject to a specific statutory requirement such as claimant written consent. Under FRCP 6(a)(4), the last day ordinarily ends at midnight in the court’s time zone for electronic filing, or at scheduled clerk closing for other filing. A different statute, local rule or court order can set a different time. Establish the actual court and completed filing; an unsuccessful attempt is not automatically a completed filing. Rule 6(a)(3) concerns actual clerk inaccessibility. Rule 6(d) is not an automatic addition to statutory accrual, discovery, denial-mailing or notice-receipt components.