Gonzalez v. Naked Species, LLC
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:19-cv-11571
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Gonzalez v. Naked Species, Judge Caproni granted default judgment for copyright infringement and awarded damages, fees, costs, and interest.
Alberto Gonzalez received a default judgment declaring copyright infringement and awarding $3,000 in statutory damages, $720 in attorney’s fees, $440 in costs, and post-judgment interest. Naked Species, LLC was ordered to pay those amounts, and the case was dismissed and closed. The court also reduced the attorney’s-fee award from the amount initially requested.
What happened
In Gonzalez v. Naked Species, LLC, Alberto Gonzalez sought a default judgment after Naked Species failed to defend the copyright case. The court had received proof that the complaint and summons were served, and the Clerk entered the company’s default.
Gonzalez requested $30,000 in statutory damages, $1,912.50 in attorney’s fees, $440 in costs, and interest. The company did not oppose the request or appear at the scheduled hearing. Gonzalez’s lawyer reduced the fee request after the court questioned the reported hours and billing practices.
Judge Valerie Caproni granted the application for default judgment, declared that Naked Species violated Gonzalez’s exclusive copyright rights, and ordered the company to pay $3,000 in statutory damages, $720 in attorney’s fees, $440 in costs, and post-judgment interest. The court dismissed the case and closed it.
The detailed version
- Gonzalez v. Naked Species, LLC · No. 1:19-cv-11571
- Valerie Caproni
- Aug. 18, 2020
Background
Alberto Gonzalez sued Naked Species, LLC, alleging unauthorized copying of his registered copyrighted work. The opinion states that Gonzalez served the complaint and an original summons on Naked Species on December 18, 2019, and filed an affidavit of service the next day.
At a July 1, 2020 hearing, the lawyer who had been appearing for Naked Species said that the client did not intend to defend the action because the client believed it was not the Delaware limited liability company that had been served. The court allowed the lawyer to withdraw. On July 2, 2020, the Clerk entered Naked Species’s default for failing to plead or otherwise defend.
Default-judgment request
Gonzalez moved for default judgment under Rule 55(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He requested $30,000 in statutory copyright damages, $1,912.50 in attorney’s fees, $440 in costs, and interest. Naked Species did not oppose the motion and did not appear at the August 14, 2020 hearing on the application.
Gonzalez’s lawyer, Richard Liebowitz, initially sought payment for 4.5 hours at $425 per hour. After the court questioned the accuracy of the reported hours, he reduced the request to $1,020 for 2.4 hours. The court found that the original hours were unreasonable because the complaint and default-judgment motion were largely copied from other filings. The court also criticized counsel’s explanations about the firm’s timekeeping and described counsel’s conduct as part of a pattern of dishonest behavior and deficient performance. It concluded that counsel was not entitled to bill at $425 per hour.
Ruling
The court granted Gonzalez’s application for entry of default judgment under Rule 55(b)(2). It declared that Naked Species violated Gonzalez’s exclusive rights under 17 U.S.C. § 106 by making unauthorized copies of his registered work.
The court ordered Naked Species to pay $3,000 in statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(1). It also ordered payment of $720 in attorney’s fees, calculated at $300 per hour for 2.4 hours, and $440 in costs under 17 U.S.C. § 505. The company was made liable for post-judgment interest under 28 U.S.C. § 1961.
The court further ordered that the case be dismissed, directed the Clerk to terminate all pending motions and deadlines, and closed the case.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.