The Supreme Court Clarifies Standard For Attorneys Fee Awards in Copyright Infringement Cases

In its decision last week in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016 WL 3317564 (U.S. June 16, 2016), the Supreme Court clarified the standard for determining when to award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing parties in copyright infringement suits.

It instructed lower courts to give “substantial weight” to the “objective reasonableness” of the losing party’s position while still considering other factors, such as litigation misconduct, deterrence of repeated instances of copyright infringement or overly aggressive assertions of copyright claims.