Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. v. 4636 S. Vermont Ave., Inc., a California Corporation Doing Business as Reed's Music Store

This is an appeal from a final judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, Central Division, which found that defendant-appellee had infringed plaintiff-appellant’s copyrights, but denied damages to plaintiff, denied an injunction to plaintiff, and awarded defendant its attorney fees.

The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1338 (a). This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 114 and 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

There is no serious dispute concerning the facts of this case. Plaintiff-appellant Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. is the owner of copyrights on a large number of popular songs, and engages in the business of publishing and selling this copyrighted music. Defendant-appellee, 4636 So. Vermont Avenue, Inc., doing business as Reed’s Music Store, is a small retail music store located in Los Angeles primarily engaged in the sale of pianos and organs with about one-half of one per cent of its total sales attributable to sales of printed musical compositions.

Some time in 1961 a man who gave his name as “Mel Alan” walked into the Reed Music Store and attempted to interest appellee’s president in purchasing a…