United States Federal Circuit

In this case involving the determination of reasonable copyright royalties for unauthorized use, the Court of Federal Claims held that ten percent of $5.4 million in revenue, of which most was profit, was a reasonable royalty for defendant United States to pay as damages for its unauthorized use of plaintiff's distinctive copyrighted work on a postage stamp. The judgment of the Court of Federal Claims is affirmed, where: 1) under the circumstances, the trial court did not err in concluding that, faced with limited alternatives, the Postal Service would have agreed to a per-unit license; 2) there is no clear error in the trial court's determination of the royalty amount, considering the perspective of the two parties to the hypothetical negotiation; and 3) in determining the base $5.4 million revenue, the trial court properly relied on the same survey data that the Postal Service has relied on for decades to track the retention of stamps.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/04/2015
• Published 02/04/2015

Judges

• Taranto

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel