Court Opinion

ID: 991003
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-03 23:30:11.49335+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:04.264241
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

RICHMOND HOMES MANAGEMENT,
INCORPORATED,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.
                                                               No. 96-1035
RAINTREE, INCORPORATED; JARED L.
LAKE; SUNSET INVESTMENTS,
INCORPORATED,
Defendants-Appellants.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Virginia, at Charlottesville.
James H. Michael, Jr., Senior District Judge.
(CA-93-47-C)

Submitted: September 17, 1996

Decided: December 10, 1996

Before ERVIN, WILKINS, and NIEMEYER, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

George H. Dygert, DYGERT & HEMENWAY, Charlottesville, Vir-
ginia, for Appellants. Thomas O. Bondurant, Jr., BONDURANT &
BENSON, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Raintree, Inc., Sunset Investments, Inc., and Jared L. Lake (collec-
tively "Raintree"), appeal from the district court's judgment following
remand by this court1 recalculating the damages award to Richmond
Homes Management, Inc. ("RHMI"), based on the finding that Rain-
tree infringed the copyright on an architectural design owned by
RHMI (the "Louisa copyright").2 In our prior opinion, we found that
with the exception of the district court's original inclusion of damages
resulting from the infringement of the copyright we determined was
not owned by RHMI (the "Heritage copyright"), the district court's
calculation of damages in this case was sound. We also held that the
Heritage and Louisa copyrights could not be merged as derivative cre-
ations of the same owner. Finally, we held that on remand, damages
were to be determined based only on the thirteen homes that infringed
on the Louisa copyright.

On remand, the district court recalculated the damages award to
exclude any alleged damage resulting from the Heritage copyright.
On appeal, Raintree claims that the district court clearly erred because
it failed to reduce the damage award on remand based on the deriva-
tive influence of the non-owned copyright.

We find the district court's recalculation of damages on remand to
be consistent with the prior opinion of this court. Accordingly, we
_________________________________________________________________
1 See Richmond Homes Management, Inc. v. Raintree, Inc., No. 94-
2214(L) (4th Cir. Sept. 18, 1995) (unpublished).
2 This court reversed and remanded in part the district court's original
finding that Raintree infringed the copyrights on two architectural
designs, concluding that RHMI failed to prove that it owned one of the
copyrights at issue. Id. The relevant facts are set forth fully in this court's
prior opinion and will not be repeated here.

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affirm the district court's order, and specifically, its imposition of
joint and several liability on behalf of RHMI in the amount of
$199,848 for infringement of RHMI's Louisa copyright. We deny
Raintree's motions for expedited review, and for attorneys' fees pur-
suant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 11. We dispense with oral argument because
the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materi-
als before the Court and argument would not aid the decisional pro-
cess.

AFFIRMED

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