Michele Eve Sandberg v. MusicXclusives, LLC

Summary

This Report and Recommendation addresses Plaintiff Michele Eve Sandberg’s motion for default judgment against MusicXclusives, LLC, for allegedly displaying her copyrighted photograph without authorization on its website and social media accounts. The court recommends finding copyright infringement liability, granting permanent injunctive relief, and awarding statutory damages, while addressing the applicable default-judgment standards and damages factors.

Holdings

1. Default judgment should be entered because Defendant's default was willful, Defendant offered no meritorious defense, and Plaintiff would be prejudiced if required to take further steps to obtain relief.
2. Plaintiff adequately established Defendant's liability for copyright infringement because she demonstrated ownership of a valid copyright and unauthorized copying and display of the photograph.
3. A permanent injunction should be entered barring Defendant from infringing Plaintiff's works and requiring removal of any continuing infringements from Defendant's website and social-media accounts.
4. Plaintiff should receive $4,000 in statutory damages: $1,000 for the three website displays, $1,000 for the X post, and $2,000 for the Facebook post.
5. Plaintiff should receive $5,762.50 in attorney's fees and $460 in costs.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Defendant's repeated failure to respond after proper service and notice warranted entry of default judgment.
2. Whether Plaintiff's well-pleaded allegations established ownership of a valid copyright and unauthorized copying sufficient to establish copyright liability.
3. Whether Plaintiff was entitled to a permanent injunction under the Copyright Act.
4. What amount of statutory damages was appropriate for the alleged infringements.
5. Whether Plaintiff was entitled to attorney's fees and costs, and if so, in what amount.
6. Whether Plaintiff was entitled to post-judgment interest.

Disposition

other