In 2008 an artist filed suit against Bob Marley’s estate alleging ownership of certain images of Marley and copyright infringement in those images. Back in June Magistrate Judge Neiman dismissed the infringement claims as time-barred. A jury in a November trial determined that the Marley estate was the proper owner of the disputed images.
In this most recent order, Judge Neiman awards the Marley defendants attorneys fees as the prevailing party in the copyright action. The plaintiff argued that fees should not have been awarded as the works were not registered by the defendants. That argument failed. The plaintiff also argued that fees shouldn’t be awarded against an individual that might not be able to afford them. That argument also failed as the judge effectively said the artist should have thought of that before bringing such a weak case.
The plaintiff also argued that because the defendants did not prevail on all claims, and because multiple non-copyright claims were included in the case, the defendants shouldn’t receive all their requested fees. This argument fared better, and the court ultimately reduced the requested fee award by over 50% to compensate.
Still, the artist was ordered to pay over $90k in fees and costs.
Zamoyski v. Fifty-Six Hope Road Music Ltd., 08-30125-KPN (D. Mass. Feb. 4, 2011)
Comments