BMI and others filed a copyright infringement action against Evie’s Tavern and its owner (collectively, appellants), alleging that appellants publicly performed six copyrighted works without a license despite numerous cease and desist letters and phone calls. On appeal, appellants challenged the district court’s grant of summary judgment and contend that there are material issues of fact in the chain of title for each of the five titles at issue. The court concluded that the district court properly granted summary judgment in BMI’s favor on each of the five titles at issue; because the district court properly granted summary judgment in BMI’s favor on each title, any error in granting summary judgment to other appellees was harmless; the district court did not need to make a finding as to whether appellants’ infringement was innocent or willful to grant summary judgment or to award statutory damages within the default range; the district court’s decision considered all of the appropriate factors, its damages determination was plausible, and thus the award of statutory damages was not an abuse of discretion; the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining the award of attorneys’ fees; and the district court adequately evaluated the eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. factors and it did not clearly err in awarding a permanent injunction. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment and award of damages, attorneys’ fees, and a permanent injunction. View “Broadcast Music, Inc., et al. v. Evie’s Tavern Ellenton, Inc., et al.” on Justia Law

View "Broadcast Music, Inc., et al. v. Evie’s Tavern Ellenton, Inc., et al." on Justia Law