IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON 

PORTLAND DIVISION 

SURVIVOR PRODUCTIONS, INC., 

Plaintiff, 

vs. 

IRINA MIRONOV A, 

Defendant. 

AIKEN, Judge: 

Case No. 3:15-cv-01594-AA 

ORDER 

Plaintiff Survivor Productions, Inc., filed this copyright infringement action against a Doe 

defendant associated with a particular Internet protocol ("IP") address. After plaintiff learned 

through discovery that defendant Irina Mironova was the subscriber assigned that IP address, 

plaintiff served her with a copy of the summons and First Amendment Complaint. Doc. 12. 

Plaintiffs counsel has submitted a sworn declaration to this Court stating that, after receiving the 

summons and complaint, defendant contacted plaintiffs counsel by phone and admitted she had used 

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Case 3:15-cv-01594-AA Document 36 Filed 05/24/16 Page 1 of 5
peer-to-peer file sharing to illegally download plaintiffs copyrighted motion picture Survivor. 

Taylor Deel.~ 4-5, Jan. 13, 2016 (doc. 16). Defendant never filed an answer or otherwise appeared 

in this lawsuit. This Court entered default judgment in plaintiffs favor on April 6, 2016. The 

default judgment order permanently enjoined defendant from infringing plaintiffs rights in Survivor 

and awarded plaintiff $1,000 in statutory damages. Plaintiff now moves for attorney's fees and 

costs. 

The court has discretion to allow the prevailing party in a copyright infringement action to 

recover costs and reasonable attorney's fees. 17 U.S.C. § 505; Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d). In considering 

whether to exercise that discretion, the court may consider, among other factors, (1) the degree of 

success obtained; (2) frivolousness; (3) motivation; ( 4) the objective umeasonableness of the losing 

party's factual and legal arguments; and (5) the need, in particular circumstances, to advance 

considerations of compensation and deterrence. Pe1fect I 0, Inc. v. CC Bill LLC, 488 F .3d 1102, 1120 

(9th Cir. 2007). These factors justify an award of fees in this case. 

In determining what amount of attorney's fees is reasonable, comts first "calculate the 

'lodestar figure' by taking the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation and multiplying 

it by a reasonable hourly rate." Fischer v. SJB-P.D. Inc., 214 F.3d 1115, 1119 (9th Cir. 2000) 

(quoting Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433 (1983)). The court then must decide whether to 

enhance or reduce the lodestar figure on the basis of one or more of the "Kerr factors."' "[T]here 

1 The Kerr factors are: (1) the time and labor required; (2) the novelty and difficulty of 

the questions involved; (3) the skill required to perfo1m the legal service properly; (4) the 

preclusion of other employment by the attorney due to the acceptance of the case; (5) the 

custommy fee; ( 6) whether the fee is fixed or contingent; (7) time limitations imposed by the 

client or circumstances; (8) the amount involved and the results obtained; (9) the experience, 

reputation, and ability of the attorneys; (10) the 'undesirability' of the case; (11) the nature and 

length of the professional relationship with the client; and (12) awards in similar cases. Kerr v. 

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Case 3:15-cv-01594-AA Document 36 Filed 05/24/16 Page 2 of 5
is a 'strong presumption' that the lodestar figure is reasonable, but that presumption may be 

overcome in the rare circumstance in which the lodestar does not adequately take into account a 

factor that may be properly considered in determining a reasonable fee." Perdue v. Kenny A., 559 

U.S. 542, 554 (2010). 

Plaintiff seeks $1,151 in attorney's fees, representing 6.58 hours of work billed at an hourly 

rate of $175. As the party seeking fees, plaintiff bears the burden of showing that the number of 

hours billed and the hourly rate are reasonable. Cascadia Wild/ands v. Bureau of Land Afgmt., 987 

F. Supp. 2d 1085, 1092 (D. Or. 2013). 

I find plaintiffs requested hourly rate for attorney Drew P. Taylor reasonable. Taylor was 

admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 2013 and his office is in Salem, which is located in the Upper 

Valley region of the state. In the District of Oregon, the most recent Oregon State Bar Economic 

Survey ("OSB Survey") is the "initial benchmark in determining whether hourly billing rates are 

reasonable." Barkv. Northrop, 300 F.R.D. 486, 493 (D. Or. 2014). According to the OSB Survey, 

the median hourly rate for attorneys in the Upper Valley with zero to three years' experience is $150 

per hour. OSB Survey 30.2 A rate $25 higher than the median is reasonable here because (1) 

Taylor's more than two years of practice experience place him at the high end of the zero-to-three 

year experience bracket; (2) there are no Upper Valley-specific billing rates available for 

Screen Extras Guild, Inc., 526 F.2d 67, 70 (9th Cir. 1975), abrogated on other grounds by City 

of Burlington v. Dague, 505 U.S. 557 (1992). The lodestar calculation subsumes many of these 

considerations, including the time and labor required; the special skill and experience of counsel; 

and the type of fee agreement. lvforales v. City of San Rafael, 96 F.3d 359, 363-64 & n.9 (9th 

Cir. 1996). 

2 The 2012 OSB Survey is available online at 

https://www.osbar.org/ _docs/resources/ econsurveys/12economicsurvey. pdf. 

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Case 3:15-cv-01594-AA Document 36 Filed 05/24/16 Page 3 of 5
business/corporate litigation, and data from other areas of the state suggests billing rates in this area 

of practice are somewhat higher than the overall median;3 and (3) the survey rates are four years old 

and should be increased a modest amount to account for inflation.4 

I also find the requested number of hours reasonable. The hours log submitted with the 

motion for fees appropriately apportions time spent on multiple similar cases to avoid duplicative 

and excessive billing. The Court notes that plaintiff has a number of nearly identical copyright 

infringement actions pending in the District of Oregon and encourages plaintiff to continue to seek 

efficiencies and account for time expended to advance multiple cases in future fee petitions. See Elflvfan, LLC v. C.G. Chinque Albright, 2014 WL 5543845, * 10 (E.D. \Vash. Oct. 31, 2014). 

Plaintiff has not asked for an upward adjustment based on any of the Kerr factors. After 

independently reviewing those factors, I find none of them justify either enhancement or reduction 

of the fee award. See Sapperv. Lenco Blade, Inc., 704 F.2d 1069, 1073 (9th Cir. 1983) (in awarding 

attorney's fees, a district court need only address "the factors called into question by the case at hand 

and necessmy to support the reasonableness of the fee award" (quotation marks omitted)). Plaintiff 

3 The median overall billing rate in Portland is $275, and the median business/corporate 

litigation billing rate in Portland is $300. OSB Survey at 29, 31. The median overall billing rate 

in the Tri-County (Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties, excluding Portland) 

region is $210, and the median business/corporate litigation billing rate in the Tri-County region 

is $248. Id 

4 See Silvia v. lvfultnomah Cnty., 2009 WL 1162085, *2 (D. Or. Apr. 29, 2009). The U.S. 

Bureau of Labor Statistics' historical consumer price index for all U.S. cities lists the annual 

average rates of inflation for the last four years as 2.1 % (2012), 1.5% (2013), 1.6% (2014), and 

0.1 % (2015). Consumer Price Index Detailed Report (Apr. 2016), Table 24, available at 

www.bls.gov/cpi/tables.htm. Applying these rates increases the median Upper Valley rate for 

new attorneys to $158 per hour. 

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is entitled to an award of attorney fees in the requested amount of $1, 151. Plaintiff is also entitled 

to an award of costs in the requested amount of$575.5 

CONCLUSION 

Plaintiffs Motion for Attorney Fees and Costs (doc. 32) is GRANTED and plaintiff is 

awarded attorney's fees and costs in the amount of$1,726. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated this~ay of May 2016. 

Am1Aiken 

United States District Judge 

5 Plaintiffs bill of costs breaks down as follows: a $400 fee for filing this lawsuit; a $55 

fee for service of the summons and subpoena; and a $70 fee for obtaining IP identification 

services from Comcast. 

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