Songbyrd, Inc. v. Estate of Grossman
United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
23 F.Supp. 2d 219 (1998)
Bearsville (defendant) lawfully received musician Byrd's master recordings in 1972, but in 1986 licensed them to Rounder Records without Songbyrd's (plaintiff) authorization, exercising exclusive control over them to Songbyrd's exclusion; Songbyrd, unaware of the 1986 licensing, made demands for the recordings' return and eventually sued for conversion in 1995, and after prior rulings on jurisdiction and timeliness, the case reached the New York district court to decide whether the conversion claim was time-barred.
Whether, in New York, the statute of limitations for conversion begins running at the time of conversion rather than when the owner's demand for return is refused.