Editing Laches (equity) (section)

==Components==
{{one source|section|date=January 2016}}
A claim of laches requires the following components:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Wayne |title=What is the Doctrine of Laches? |date=5 August 2023 |url=https://stonegatelegal.com.au/what-is-the-doctrine-of-laches/}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}<ref name="danjaq">{{cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1040539.html|title=Danjaq LLC MGM UA v. SONY Corporation|work=Findlaw|access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref>
# a delay in bringing the action,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Macquarie Units Pty Ltd v Sunchen Pty Ltd [2023] NSWCA 116 (26 May 2023) |url=https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCA/2023/116.html}}</ref>
# a delay that is unreasonable and
# that prejudices the defendant.

===Delay===
The period of delay begins when the plaintiff knew, or reasonably ought to have known, that the cause of action existed; the period of delay ends only when the legal action is formally filed.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.modeljuryinstructions.com/tag/laches/| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130918100148/http://www.modeljuryinstructions.com/tag/laches/| archive-date = 2013-09-18| title = Laches {{!}} Model Jury Instructions}}</ref> Informing or warning the defendant of the cause of action (for example by sending a cease-and-desist letter or merely ''threatening'' a lawsuit) does ''not'', by itself, end the period of delay.<ref name="danjaq"/>

===Unreasonableness===
In order to invoke laches, the delay by the opposing party in initiating the lawsuit must be unreasonable.  The courts have recognized the following causes of delay as reasonable:{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}
* the exhaustion of remedies through the administrative process
* the evaluation and preparation of a complicated claim
* to determine whether the scope of proposed infringement will justify the cost of litigation<ref name="danjaq"/>

By contrast, it is ''not'' reasonable to delay a lawsuit to "capitalize on the value of the infringer's labor".  In ''Danjaq v. Sony'', the Ninth Circuit decided that a screenwriter who waited for a film studio to publicize and distribute a film based on a script he allegedly owned had delayed his lawsuit unreasonably.<ref name="danjaq"/>

===Prejudice===
Unreasonable delay must prejudice the defendant.  Examples of such prejudice include:{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}
* evidence favorable to the defendant becoming lost or degraded
* witnesses favorable to the defendant dying or losing their memories
* the defendant making economic decisions (e.g. investing in a movie or a manufacturing process) that it would not have done, had the lawsuit been filed earlier.<ref name="danjaq"/>

Unreasonable delay may also prejudice the rights of third-parties who were unknown in the case earlier but whose rights got created in the intervening period of the delay (e.g.: the defendant inducts new persons on a disputed property by sale, or by lease).