Bayoh v. Afropunk Fest 2015 LLC
- Denise Cote
- 1:18-cv-05820
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Bayoh v. Afropunk LLC, Judge Cote granted summary judgment on damages claims, cancelled the jury trial, and set a conference on injunctive relief.
Mambu Bayoh’s damages claims were resolved against him through summary judgment. Afropunk LLC, Matthew Morgan, and Jocelyn Cooper prevailed on that motion. Bayoh’s request for injunctive relief was not resolved in this order and was scheduled for discussion at a conference.
What happened
In Bayoh v. Afropunk LLC, photographer Mambu Bayoh sued Afropunk LLC and two employees for allegedly using 28 of his copyrighted photographs beyond the limited license he had granted for promoting Afropunk music festivals.
Bayoh could not seek statutory damages because he did not timely register the photographs. After the court excluded his two damages experts, Bayoh conceded that he could not establish an entitlement to actual damages or Afropunk’s profits. He argued that his separate request for an injunction remained.
Judge Denise Cote granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Bayoh’s damages claims and cancelled the November 2, 2020 jury trial because the remaining request for an injunction is an equitable claim. The court scheduled a telephone conference to address that request and stated that any contempt proceeding would require a formal motion or order to show cause.
The detailed version
- Bayoh v. Afropunk Fest 2015 LLC · No. 1:18-cv-05820
- Denise Cote
- Oct. 28, 2020
Background
Mambu Bayoh, a photographer, sued Afropunk LLC, Matthew Morgan, and Jocelyn Cooper, individually, for copyright infringement. Bayoh alleged that the defendants used 28 of his copyrighted photographs in promoting Afropunk music festivals in a way that exceeded the limited license he had given Afropunk.
Damages Claims
The court stated that Bayoh could not obtain statutory damages because he did not timely register his photographs. The court had also granted the defendants’ motion to exclude Bayoh’s two damages experts from testifying at trial. Bayoh intended to use those experts to support claims for actual damages and disgorgement of Afropunk’s profits. After the court required the parties to address whether the action should be dismissed in light of the expert ruling, Bayoh conceded that he could not establish entitlement to any damages award without the experts.
Injunctive Relief and Trial
Bayoh argued that his claim for injunctive relief remained. The court explained that injunctive relief is an equitable remedy, so Bayoh no longer had a right to a jury trial on that claim. Although a preliminary injunction had been entered on July 11, 2018, Bayoh’s October 16, 2020 pretrial order did not notify the defendants that he intended to seek a permanent injunction.
Order
The court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Bayoh’s damages claims and cancelled the November 2, 2020 jury trial. It scheduled a telephone conference for October 30, 2020, to address Bayoh’s assertion that he still had a claim for injunctive relief. The court also stated that a contempt proceeding could not begin without a formal motion or order to show cause.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.