Kennedy Law Settles Case Pending in International Trade Commission

In February, 2015, Kennedy Law settled a case pending in the International Trade Commission involving a copyright for a literary work.  The case was the first copyright action brought before the International Trade Commission since the 1983 Gremlins case, which ultimately resulted in the revision of the ITC’s domestic industry requirements.  The case was originally dismissed by the administrative law judge on the grounds that there was no copyright infringement.  On appeal, however, Kennedy Law demonstrated that the ITC administrative law judge did not follow the correct standard for assessing copyright infringement.  Before the case was argued, however, the infringers settled on confidential terms.  Stephen Kennedy, lead counsel for the author, said “I would have liked to see the Federal Circuit’s assessment of the administrative law judge’s interpretation of the copyright statute.  But the client’s interests must come first.  I cannot disclose any terms, but one can draw logical inferences from the fact that there was a summary judgment granted against the client, an appeal to the Federal Circuit and a settlement thereafter.”  Kennedy continued, “I am proud of what our team accomplished.  We were facing the best copyright attorneys in the country and an ITC staff that didn’t want the ITC to consider a copyright action from the start.  Despite this adversity, we ultimately resolved the case for the client.”