Basevi, Inc. v. The Acorn Company

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff-Appellant Basevi, Inc. (“Basevi”) appeals from the district court’s award of attorneys’ fees to DefendantAppellee The Acorn Company (“Acorn”), following Acorn’s successful defense of Basevi’s copyright action. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.

Basevi argues that the district court abused its discretion in granting attorneys’ fees to Acorn, because Acorn did not settle the case, instead filing a successful motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment. That argument has no merit. The Copyright Act gives the district court the discretion to award reasonable attorneys’ fees “to the prevailing party as part of the costs.” See 17 U.S.C. § 505 . The district court properly exercised this discretion and followed Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., 510 U.S. 517, 535 , 114 S.Ct. 1023 , 127 L.Ed.2d 455 (1994).

That Acorn did not settle is no reason to deny it fees. Although Basevi blames Acorn for not accepting Basevi’s offer to settle “with a simple affidavit,” that offer was not made until Basevi was — late— opposing summary judgment. At that point, Acorn had already spent considerable money defending itself. It might well have believed…