Nwosuocha v. Glover II

Background

Emelike Nwosuocha brought a copyright action alleging that defendants’ song “This Is America” infringed his song “Made in America.” The court had previously dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim on two grounds: Nwosuocha had not registered the musical composition, which Section 411(a) of the Copyright Act requires before suing for infringement, and the songs were not substantially similar. The Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal based on the missing musical-composition registration but did not decide substantial similarity.

Defendants then moved under Section 505 of the Copyright Act for $934,653.85 in attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in defending the case in the district court, defending the appeal, and preparing the fee motion. The request covered work by the Davis Firm for nine defendants, Pryor Cashman for Universal, and Quinn Emanuel for Roc Nation. Nwosuocha opposed the motion and submitted information about his financial circumstances.

Whether Fees Were Appropriate

Section 505 gives a court discretion to award reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to the prevailing party in a copyright action. The court held that defendants were the prevailing parties but that prevailing-party status alone did not automatically entitle them to fees.

The court found Nwosuocha’s copyright claim objectively unreasonable. It concluded that the claim lacked legal support because Nwosuocha had registered only a sound recording, not the musical composition he alleged defendants had infringed. The court also found that defendants had identified this problem, as well as the lack of substantial similarity, in pre-motion correspondence before Nwosuocha continued pursuing the action.

The court found that the timing of the lawsuit modestly supported defendants’ argument that the case was strategically motivated, because Nwosuocha filed it after “This Is America” achieved critical and commercial success. But the court found no indication that he had filed similar claims against other music-industry defendants and did not treat him as a copyright troll. The court also concluded that a fee award would serve compensation and deterrence purposes without improperly discouraging reasonable copyright claims.

Calculation of District-Court Fees

The court used the lodestar method, which generally calculates fees by multiplying a reasonable hourly rate by a reasonable number of hours. It approved the Davis Firm’s requested hourly rates, but reduced some rates for Pryor Cashman and Quinn Emanuel because they were higher than rates ordinarily awarded in comparable copyright cases and those firms were not lead counsel. The court also reduced paralegal rates where the submissions did not provide sufficient background and experience information.

The court initially reduced each firm’s fees for vague or block-billed time entries. It reduced the Davis Firm’s merits fees by 20 percent to $314,958.54, Pryor Cashman’s to $20,848, and Quinn Emanuel’s to $11,436. The court then applied an additional 25 percent reduction because defense counsel collectively billed 740.9 hours on a case that ended at the motion-to-dismiss stage and because of the parties’ financial disparity.

For district-court work on the merits, the court awarded $236,218.91 to the Davis Firm, $15,636 to Pryor Cashman for Universal, and $8,577 to Quinn Emanuel for Roc Nation. For preparing the fee motion, the court awarded 10 percent of those underlying fee awards: $23,621.89 to the Davis Firm, $1,563.60 to Pryor Cashman, and $857.70 to Quinn Emanuel.

Appeal-Related Fees

The court denied without prejudice defendants’ request for fees and costs incurred on the appeal. Although a district court may award fees for appellate work, the court found that defendants had not adequately shown that more than 450 hours billed on the appeal were reasonable. The court stated that defendants could present the request to the Second Circuit.

Costs

The court declined to award electronic legal-research charges as separate costs because it treated computer research as part of compensable attorney time rather than a separately reimbursable expense. It also declined to award $10.30 in docket expenses because Pryor Cashman provided no supporting documentation. For the fee motion, the court reduced the Davis Firm’s requested $305.01 in copying and delivery costs to $150 because the supporting information and receipts were insufficient.

Order

The court ordered that the fee motion was GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. It awarded the Davis Firm defendants $259,840.80 in fees and $150 in costs; Universal $17,199.60 in fees; and Roc Nation $9,434.70 in fees. The court denied without prejudice defendants’ request for attorneys’ fees and costs incurred on appeal.