Shapiro Arato Bach Wins Fee Award Following Successful Summary Judgment Motion In Copyright Dispute
On July 9, 2024, the Honorable Stephen V. Wilson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California awarded Shapiro Arato Bach client Katori Hall attorney’s fees and costs as the prevailing party in a copyright dispute concerning her widely acclaimed television show, P Valley.
The Court previously granted summary judgment dismissing the plaintiff’s claims that Ms. Hall’s work copied her play, holding that no reasonable jury could conclude that P-Valley was substantially similar to the plaintiff’s work. In its order awarding Ms. Hall attorney’s fees and costs, the Court acknowledged that Ms. Hall and her co-defendants “achieved a complete success in the litigation” and rejected the plaintiff’s assertion that she was likely to overturn the summary judgment ruling on appeal. It observed that this was “not a close and difficult case;” rather, “many of the similarities pointed out by Plaintiff in her case relied on some element of mischaracterization of one or both of the works in question.” The Court held that “Plaintiff’s choice to take this case as far as she did was unreasonable,” and that she used improper tactics during the litigation. Thus, a fee award was warranted.
The Shapiro Arato Bach team representing Ms. Hall included Cynthia S. Arato and Alice Buttrick. The court’s opinion can be found here.