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Sam Francis Foundation, et al. v. Sotheby's, Inc., et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 16-56234, 16-56252 · judgment December 3, 2018


Certiorari denied · April 1, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Ninth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a petition filed soon after the judgment below, and down for a business respondent.

Question presented

Where an action is brought under a state statute preempted by section 301(a) the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S. C. § 101, et seq., Pub. L. No. 94-553, 90 Stat. 2541 (1976) (“Copyright Act”), is the action regarded as one under the Copyright Act? More specifically, where the aforementioned state statute provides that the prevailing party shall recover attorney’s fees, and is held to be preempted by the Copyright Act, does the discretionary standard under section 505 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 505, govern the award of attorney’s fees in the action?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Eric Marc George
Browne George Ross O'Brien Annaguey & Ellis LLP

For respondent
John Charles Dwyer
Cooley LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Apr 01 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 13 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/29/2019.
  3. Mar 11 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent eBay Inc. to respond filed.
  4. Mar 11 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Sotheby's, Inc. to respond filed.
  5. Mar 04 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 8, 2019)