Intellectual Property: Ninth Circuit Affirms $508,709.20 Fee Award And $5,856.27 Costs Award To Plaintiff In A Copyright Case

Even Though Plaintiff Only Obtained Compensatory Damages, As Remitted Twice, Of $116,975.23.

            The Copyright Act has a discretionary fee-shifting statute, giving considerable discretion to district judges in making or denying an award of fees.  To show how the fees and costs award can be much more than a compensatory damages award, we refer you to Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P., Case Nos. 18-56253 et al. (9^th Cir. Nov. 10, 2022) (published) to illustrate such a result.  There, plaintiff won a copyright infringement suit against defendant, being awarded profit disgorgement damages and lost profits, which were remitted twice (once by the district court and a second time by the circuit court) to a total of $116,975.23.  The district court awarded plaintiff attorney’s fees of $508,709.20 and costs of $5,856.27 under the Copyright Act.  The Ninth Circuit affirmed these awards, finding that defendant was found to have willfully infringed and had taken an unreasonable position regarding a Chinese registration.