Re: cert petition granted

On 10/15/97, Laura N. Gasaway <unclng[_at_]email.unc.edu> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 14 Oct 1997, Mark Lemley <mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I don't think I've seen any mention on this list of the Supreme Court's
> > grant of cert in a second copyright case this term. The case presents
> > the question whether a copyright plaintiff is entitled to a jury trial
> > in awarding statutory damages, despite the language of the statute.
>
> I am very interested in this issue. I am teaching copyright
> damages today in my IP class and will talk about the split in the
> circuits and the grant of cert. in Feltner.
>
> Does anyone want to speculate on the likely result from the
> Supremes?

I frankly can't imagine what persuaded three circuits to conclude that a statute which says statutory damages shall be awarded in an amount determined "as the court considers just" means that the jury gets to decide what damages to award.

Mark Lemley
Assistant Professor, University of Texas School of Law Of Counsel, Fish & Richardson, P.C.
mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu

For information on the Intellectual Property program at UT, see http://www.utexas.edu/law/acadaff/intelprop/

For information on the 1998 Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference, see http://www.cfp.org

For a list of my publications, and how to find them, see http://www.law.utexas.edu/lemley/pubs.htm Received on Mon Oct 20 1997 - 13:54:13 GMT