Certiorari Granted On January 15, 2016 From Second Circuit Denial Of Fees To Prevailing Defendant.
The U.S. Supreme Court, on January 15, 2016, granted certiorari to resolve a split among circuit courts on the proper standard for awarding attorney’s fees under the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 505). The case is Kirtsaeng d/b/a Bluechristine 99 v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., No. 15-375 (U.S.), with the certiorari petition contending that circuit courts used a variety of formulations, ranging from whether the successful claim or defense advanced or narrowed the litigation in a pragmatic way; whether the claim or defense was objectively unreasonable or frivolous in nature; application of a presumption of a fee award being recoverable by the prevailing party; or whether a fee award would advance the purposes of the Copyright Act. The Second Circuit affirmed a fee award denial to a prevailing defendant arguing he had a successful copyright infringement defense (requesting over $2 million in fees).