Greetings Tour, Inc. v. NY & Co Ecomm LLC
- Alvin Hellerstein
- 1:23-cv-04848
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 6
In Greetings Tour v. NY & Co Ecomm, Judge Hellerstein entered default judgment, awarded $25,000 and fees, and barred further unauthorized mural use.
Greetings Tour, Inc. received $25,000 in statutory damages, potential reasonable attorney fees, taxed costs, and a permanent injunction protecting its mural. NY & Co Ecomm LLC and persons acting with it are barred from unauthorized uses of the mural, while unidentified Does 1–10 were dismissed.
What happened
Greetings Tour, Inc. sued NY & Co Ecomm LLC for displaying part of its copyrighted mural in two Instagram images without permission. NY & Co did not participate, and the court entered default against it; unidentified defendants were dismissed.
The court found that the Instagram posts infringed the mural’s copyright but were not willful. It awarded Greetings Tour $25,000 in statutory damages, denied damages for the alleged intentional removal of copyright information, permanently barred further unauthorized use of the mural, and allowed Greetings Tour to prove reasonable attorney fees. The Clerk was directed to tax costs.
In Greetings Tour, Inc. v. NY & Co Ecomm LLC, the motion was granted against NY & Co Ecomm LLC, and Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein directed the plaintiff to submit a judgment form.
The detailed version
- Greetings Tour, Inc. v. NY & Co Ecomm LLC · No. 1:23-cv-04848
- Alvin Hellerstein
- Nov. 28, 2023
Background
Greetings Tour, Inc. alleged that NY & Co Ecomm LLC infringed its copyright in a registered mural reading “Greetings from NOLA.” The mural was shown in two Instagram images featuring two women wearing clothing designed by NY & Co. The images displayed part of the mural and were linked to a third-party account. Greetings Tour alleged that NY & Co posted the images without permission and sought statutory damages, injunctive relief, costs, and attorney fees.
NY & Co failed to appear, and the Clerk entered default. Greetings Tour then moved for default judgment. The opinion also dismissed Does 1–10 because they were not identified.
Copyright infringement and damages
The court found that NY & Co infringed Greetings Tour’s copyright by posting the images without permission. The court stated that infringement did not require proof that NY & Co knew the work was protected. Although Greetings Tour alleged willful infringement, the court found no willfulness under the facts presented.
Greetings Tour requested $75,000 in statutory damages. The court explained that a claimed damages amount is not automatically accepted after a default and that it must determine damages with reasonable certainty. Because Greetings Tour did not show actual financial harm, did not explain the amount it would have charged for a license, and provided no indication that NY & Co knew about the copyright protection, the court awarded $25,000 in statutory damages. It concluded that this amount would deter NY & Co and others from similar infringement.
Copyright-information claim
Greetings Tour also alleged that NY & Co violated 17 U.S.C. § 1202 by intentionally removing copyright information from the mural. The court found insufficient facts showing that NY & Co intended to obscure the copyright notice. The opinion noted that the pleadings did not establish that NY & Co took or staged the photographs, which were linked to a third-party account. The court granted no damages on this claim.
Injunction, fees, and costs
The court permanently enjoined NY & Co, along with its affiliates, officers, agents, employees, attorneys, and others acting with it, from using the copyrighted mural in connection with distributing, marketing, advertising, offering for sale, or selling its products, except under a license from Greetings Tour.
Greetings Tour also sought attorney fees and costs but did not provide the amounts. The court gave it leave to prove reasonable attorney fees, calculated using a reasonable hourly rate multiplied by the reasonable hours required by the case. The Clerk was directed to tax costs.
Disposition
The court granted Greetings Tour’s motion against NY & Co Ecomm LLC, entered judgment for $25,000 in statutory damages plus reasonable attorney fees and costs to be taxed by the Clerk, and directed Greetings Tour to submit a form of judgment.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.