Free Order on Motion for Ruling - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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Case 2:03-cv-00249-JAT Document 166 Filed 02/07/2006 Page 1 of 2

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Dible, et al., Plaintiffs, vs.

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No. CV 03-00249-PHX-JAT ORDER

Pending before the Court is Defendants' Request for Ruling on Motion for Fees re: Copyright Claim (Doc. # 136). This Court entered an order on July 8, 2005 granting in part and denying part Defendants' request for attorneys' fees (Doc. # 128). Defendants correctly point out that the Court did not rule on their request for fees pursuant to the Copyright Act. Plaintiffs' copyright claim was based on Defendants' publishing of Plaintiffs' copyrighted photographs from their website in the city's administrative matter. In the face of Ninth Circuit precedent stating that a city council's copying and use of a copyrighted adult film for use in a public nuisance hearing was a fair use, Plaintiffs dismissed the copyright claim at the Rule 16 Scheduling Conference. Defendants seek attorneys' fees for the research in connection with the copyright claim and also 1/9 of certain other general fees that they are apportioning to the copyright claim. The decision to award attorneys' fees in a

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copyright action is within the discretion of the district court. See 17 U.S.C. § 505. The Court finds an award of fees for the dismissed copyright claim to be appropriate. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED granting Defendants' Request for Ruling on Motion for Fees re: Copyright Claim (Doc. # 136) and awarding attorneys' fees to Defendants for work related to the copyright claim; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that judgment shall follow.

DATED this 7th day of February, 2006.

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