Opinion ID: 545581
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Amount of Statutory Damages

Text: 23 Assuming the infringements were willful, Pausa argues there is a genuine issue of fact as to the proper amount of statutory damages to be awarded. Pausa claims the $4 million award, or eighty violations at $50,000 apiece, represents an abuse of discretion because it bears no relationship to the plaintiffs' actual damages. 24 Under the 1976 Copyright Act, the plaintiff may elect to recover either actual or statutory damages. See 17 U.S.C. Sec. 504(c)(1). If statutory damages are elected, [t]he court has wide discretion in determining the amount of statutory damages to be awarded, constrained only by the specified maxima and minima. Harris v. Emus Records Corp., 734 F.2d 1329, 1335 (9th Cir.1984). The maximum award for willful infringements is $50,000, 4 and the minimum $250, per infringement. See 17 U.S.C. Sec. 504(c)(2). In measuring the damages, the court is to be guided by 25 what is just in the particular case, considering the nature of the copyright, the circumstances of the infringement and the like, ... but with the express qualification that in every case the assessment must be within the prescribed [maximum or minimum]. Within these limitations the court's discretion and sense of justice are controlling.... 26 F.W. Woolworth Co. v. Contemporary Arts, Inc., 344 U.S. 228, 232, 73 S.Ct. 222, 225, 97 L.Ed. 276 (1952) (quoting L.A. Westermann Co. v. Dispatch Printing Co., 249 U.S. 100, 106-07, 39 S.Ct. 194, 195-96, 63 L.Ed. 499 (1919)). The award will be overturned only for abuse of discretion. Harris, 734 F.2d at 1335. 27 The district court in this case awarded the maximum damages possible, or $50,000 per violation, for each of the eighty willful infringements. Pausa argues the statutory damage provisions should not be converted into a windfall where, as a practical matter, the plaintiff has suffered only nominal damages. Doehrer v. Caldwell, 207 U.S.P.Q. 391, 393, 1980 WL 1158 (N.D.Ill.1980) (nonwillful infringements). It is clear, however, that a plaintiff may recover statutory damages whether or not there is adequate evidence of the actual damages suffered by the plaintiff or of the profits reaped by defendant. Harris, 734 F.2d at 1335. The Supreme Court has stated that [e]ven for uninjurious and unprofitable invasions of copyright the court may, if it deems it just, impose a liability within [the] statutory limits to sanction and vindicate the statutory policy of discouraging infringement. Woolworth Co., 344 U.S. at 233, 73 S.Ct. at 225. 28 In affirming the district court's award of the maximum damages permissible in the absence of a specific finding of willfulness ($10,000 per infringement), we stated in Harris that [t]he trial court is in a better position than are we to determine appropriate damages. 734 F.2d at 1335. Given the number of willful infringements committed by Pausa, the compulsory nature of the licenses, and the fact Pausa is engaged in the business of selling copyrighted works, we find the court did not abuse its discretion in awarding $4 million in statutory damages.