Copyright Law Updates | New Judicial Opinions

November 9, 2007

Sixth Circuit Orders Remittitur of Punitive Damage Award in Bridgeport Music v. Justin Combs Case

Bridgeport Music, Inc., et al. v. Justin Combs Publishing, et al.
No. 06-6294, 2007 WL 3010525, Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 10/17/2007

Holding:

In this appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ordered a remittitur of the award of punitive damages granted in favor of plaintiff copyright owners. In this infringement case filed against defendant music publishers for releasing an unlicensed sample of a copyrighted song, the Sixth Circuit held that the jury award of punitive damages in the amount of $3.5 million was unconstitutionally excessive and violated due process. In arriving at this conclusion, the court explained that such award should rightly be reduced, in the light of the Supreme Court’s three “guideposts” for evaluating the constitutionality of a punitive damages award, i.e., the reprehensibility of defendants' conduct, the disparity between plaintiffs' harm and the award, and a comparison of the award and civil penalties in comparable cases. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408, 418, 123 S.Ct. 1513, 155 L.Ed.2d 585 (2003).

Detailed Summary:

Plaintiffs Bridgeport Music, Inc. and Westbound Records, Inc. are copyright owners of the Ohio Players’ Song “Singing in the Morning.” Defendant music publishers released the Notorious B .I.G. album Ready to Die, the title song of which contained an unlicensed sample of “Singing in the Morning.”

After plaintiffs brought suit against defendants for copyright infringement, a jury issued a verdict in favor of plaintiffs, awarding compensatory and punitive damages. Bridgeport elected statutory damages under the federal Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq., and received the maximum award of $150,000. Westbound received its one-half share of compensatory damages, $366,939,…

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Companies Mentioned

Bad Boy Entertainment, Inc. d.b.a. Bad Boy Records

Bad Boy Records LLC

Janice Combs Publishing, Inc. d.b.a. Justin Combs Publishing

UMG Recordings, Inc.

Westbound Records, Inc.

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MGA Entertainment (HK) Ltd.

Mattel, Inc.

MGA Entertainment Inc.

American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

The Cartoon Network LP, LLP

Paramount Pictures Corp.

NBC Studios, Inc.

Disney Enterprises, Inc.

CSC Holdings, Inc.

CBS Broadcasting Inc.

Cablevision Systems Corp.

Cable News Network LP, LLLP

American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Westbound Records, Inc.

Kamind Associates, Inc. a.k.a. KAM Industries

UMG Recordings, Inc.

Janice Combs Publishing, Inc. d.b.a. Justin Combs Publishing

All Headline News Corp.

American Software Development Company, Inc.

Bad Boy Records LLC

Affordable Video Systems, Ltd.

Bad Boy Entertainment, Inc. d.b.a. Bad Boy Records

Dream Games of Arizona, Inc.

Yahoo! Inc.

Frank Diana City Entertainment

Television Music License Committee

PC Onsite

SESAC, Inc.

Simon & Schuster, Inc.

RealNetworks, Inc.

AOL LLC f.k.a. America Online, Inc.

Northern Lights Products, Inc. d.b.a. GlowProducts.com

Litecubes, LLC

Poof Apparel Corp.

Derek Andrew, Inc.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Inc.

Geoffrey Productions, Inc.

Universal City Studios LLLP

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

Turner Network Television LP, LLLP

Turner Network Sales, Inc.

Turner Classic Movies, LP, LLLP

Gale Group, Inc.

McIntosh & Otis, Inc.

Managed Solutions Group, Inc.

ASP. Consulting Group

West Publishing Company, Inc.

Veoh Networks, Inc.

Akanoc Solutions, Inc.