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Jan 21, 2016

Will the Supreme Court Clarify the Standard for Awarding Attorneys’ Fees under §505 of the Copyright Act?

The Supreme Court has granted certiorari to address the standards to be applied in awarding attorney’s fees under  17 U.S.C.§505 of the Copyright Act. At issue is whether Supap Kirtsaeng, the prevailing defendant in a copyright lawsuit, should be awarded his attorney’s fees.  This is Mr. Kirtsaeng’s second trip to the Supreme Court. The  Court held in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 133 S. Ct. 1351 (2013) that under the “first sale” doctrine (codified at 17 U.S.C. §109(a)), Kirtsaeng, as the lawful owner of the particular physical copy of the textbook purchased abroad, was permitted to resell that… Read more