Kamar International v. Russ Berrie & Company, Inc.

In this copyright infringement case, Russ Berrie & Co., Inc. (Berrie) appeals the district court’s award of statutory damages to Kamar International, Inc. (Kamar) under the Copyright Act of 1909, 17 U.S.C. § 101 (b) (1976). Berrie contends that the district court used improper standards in determining damages and that the final award is “unjust.” We affirm the judgment below.

I. Background

This is the third time this copyright infringement case has come before this court. An exhaustive history of the case through the second appeal is presented in Kamar International, Inc. v. Russ Berrie & Company, Inc., 752 F.2d 1326 , 1328-29 (9th Cir.1984) (hereinafter Russ Berrie II). The remainder of this section describes proceedings since 1984.

In its 1984 opinion in Russ Berrie II, this court remanded this case to the district court for three purposes: (1) to recalculate Berrie’s profits, taking into account all allowable deductions for overhead; (2) to decide whether to increase the potential statutory award to Kamar above the ceiling set forth in 17 U.S.C. § 101 (b); and (3) to elect between an award of damages reflecting Berrie’s profits and an award of statutory damages. 752 F.2d at…