Cases Under Review, Intellectual Property: SCOTUS Will Decide Whether “Full Costs” To Prevailing Party In Copyright Case Is Limited To Taxable Costs Or Non-Taxable Costs

Case Will Resolve Split Among 8^th, 9^th, and 11^th Circuits.

            On Thursday, September 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Rimini Street Inc. v. Oracle USA Inc., No. 17-1625 (U.S. Sept. 27, 2018, cert. granted from Ninth Circuit opinion).   Here is the issue to be decided, one resolving a split between the circuit courts of appeal:

“Whether the Copyright Act’s allowance of “full costs,” 17 U.S.C. § 505, to a prevailing party is limited to taxable costs under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920 and 1821, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 8th and 11th Circuits have held, or whether the Act also authorizes non-taxable costs, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held.”