Intellectual Property Law

The U.S. Supreme Court was asked Monday whether defendants who beat a Recording Industry Association of America copyright case are entitled to legal fees.

The petition to the high court comes from a San Antonio man whom the RIAA accused of using the Kazaa file-sharing program to purloin its members' music in 2006. The RIAA dismissed the case against Cliff Thompson and sued his daughter after concluding he was not the infringer.

Thompson's attorney, Ted Lee, wrote the justices that "There is a clear and present need for this court's intervention and guidance on this important issue of copyright law."

Lee said "an absence of uniformity between the circuits, concurrent with an onslaught of litigation by the music companies against internet account holders, only serves to provide innocent defendants with even little, if any, incentive to fully litigate any meritorious defenses they may have."

In seeking legal fees, Thompson invoked language in 2002 appellate court decision involving a copyright dispute about T-shirt imprints. In that case, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that those who prevail in a copyright case generally have a presumptive right to legal fees.

The Chicago-based appeals court ruled that legal costs "may be necessary to enable a party possessing the meritorious claim or defense to press it to a successful conclusion rather than surrender it because the cost of vindication exceeds the private benefit to party."

But the New Orleans-based  5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January that Thompson was not entitled to legal costs because the RIAA "discovered substantial copyright infringement of their songs by a file-sharing program attached to an internet account registered to Thompson."

The court added that the RIAA "should not be deterred from bringing future suits to protect their copyrights because they brought an objectively reasonable suit."

According to the Copyright Act, judges "may also award a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party."

The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 individuals for copyright infringement. Most cases settle out of court for a few thousand dollars. The courts have awarded attorney fees in two cases where the defendants were falsely accused -- to an Oregon woman and to two Oklahoma women.

The justices did not say whether they would review Thompson's petition.

Photo chazlarson See Also:

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• RIAA Sues Usenet.com, Decries it as Napster, Kazaa
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