New Report Offers Statistics On Copyright Cases

The copyright litigation report provides a snapshot of copyright litigation. Howard says attorneys will find it useful to see data on an aggregate level, but that users also may benefit from Lex Machina's legal analytics copyright platform, which allows them to customize data in ways that will enable attorneys to gain strategic insights.

The newly released report separates Internet file-sharing cases from other copyright litigation and focuses on them in a section at the end because, Howard explains, “the dynamics of these file-sharing cases differ significantly from other copyright litigation” and to combine them would have skewed the results.

Some of the insights gleaned from the data crunched by Lex Machina include:

• Copyright litigation is heavily concentrated in the Central District of California (2,496 cases, or 26.2%, since 2009) and the Southern District of New York (1,061 cases, 11.1%).
• The majority of infringement findings are the result of default, and almost all default findings are for infringement.
• Median time to a temporary restraining order is eight days, to a preliminary injunction is 1.2 months, to a permanent injunction is 7.5 months and to trial is 2.1 years.
• About 80% of damages awarded are evenly split between consent and default judgments ($495 million, or 40.8%, and $476 million, or 39.2%, respectively).
• Only 348, or 2.3%, of the 14,669 copyright cases terminated since 2009 have resulted in compensatory damages on the merits other than via default or consent judgment.
• Top parties winning damages include companies in movies and entertainment (Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, Universal, Paramount Pictures and more), software (Quantlab, Foundry Networks) and music (UMG Recordings).
• Top plaintiffs include music (Broadcast Music, Sony/ATV Songs, Songs of Universal, UMG Recordings, EMI and more), software (Microsoft), fashion (Coach) and textile patterns (Star Fabrics) industries.
• Among top defendants are Amazon.com, music labels (Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings) and publishing/education (Pearson Education and John Wiley & Sons).
• Doniger Burroughs, a California fashion, art and entertainment boutique, leads among plaintiffs firms with 741 cases, more than double the next firm.
• In file-sharing cases, about 90% of cases settle. Top plaintiffs include movie production companies. And an erotic website leads the list of Internet file-sharing plaintiffs with 4,238 cases, about 15 times as many cases as the next most litigious plaintiff.
• Top districts for file-sharing cases are the Northern District of Illinois (936), the District of Colorado (601) and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (580); the District of New Jersey has risen to become the top district in recent quarters (setting a record of 139 cases in the first quarter of this year).
• Of all copyright cases since 2009, 26.2% were filed in the Central District of California and 11.1% in the Southern District of New York

Lisa Shuchman is a Reporter for Corporate Counsel magazine, an ALM sibling of Entertainment Law & Finance.

Lex Machina, a legal analytics company that grew out of a project run by Stanford University's law school and its computer science department, has published a 37-page “copyright litigation report” developed from litigation data and court decisions covering thousands of copyright cases filed in U.S. district courts over the past five years. The report analyzes key filings, findings, judgment types, decisions, resolutions, damages and other data.

The information may help entertainment counsel make more informed decisions on a broad range of legal and business issues that affect the industry. Lex Machina describes the report as the first comprehensive study of U.S. copyright litigation to provide a detailed analysis of different judicial districts, timing on trial and injunctions, and top parties and firms for marketing and outside counsel selection.

“As anyone who has ever done legal research knows, a good search eliminates noise, leaving one to focus on the relevant portion of the results,” Brian Howard, Lex Machina's legal data scientist and director of analytics, writes in the report's executive summary.

The copyright litigation report provides a snapshot of copyright litigation. Howard says attorneys will find it useful to see data on an aggregate level, but that users also may benefit from Lex Machina's legal analytics copyright platform, which allows them to customize data in ways that will enable attorneys to gain strategic insights.

The newly released report separates Internet file-sharing cases from other copyright litigation and focuses on them in a section at the end because, Howard explains, “the dynamics of these file-sharing cases differ significantly from other copyright litigation” and to combine them would have skewed the results.

Some of the insights gleaned from the data crunched by Lex Machina include:

• Copyright litigation is heavily concentrated in the Central District of California (2,496 cases, or 26.2%, since 2009) and the Southern District of New York (1,061 cases, 11.1%).
• The majority of infringement findings are the result of default, and almost all default findings are for infringement.
• Median time to a temporary restraining order is eight days, to a preliminary injunction is 1.2 months, to a permanent injunction is 7.5 months and to trial is 2.1 years.
• About 80% of damages awarded are evenly split between consent and default judgments ($495 million, or 40.8%, and $476 million, or 39.2%, respectively).
• Only 348, or 2.3%, of the 14,669 copyright cases terminated since 2009 have resulted in compensatory damages on the merits other than via default or consent judgment.
• Top parties winning damages include companies in movies and entertainment (Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, Universal, Paramount Pictures and more), software (Quantlab, Foundry Networks) and music (UMG Recordings).
• Top plaintiffs include music (Broadcast Music, Sony/ATV Songs, Songs of Universal, UMG Recordings, EMI and more), software (Microsoft), fashion (Coach) and textile patterns (Star Fabrics) industries.
• Among top defendants are Amazon.com, music labels (Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings) and publishing/education (Pearson Education and John Wiley & Sons).
• Doniger Burroughs, a California fashion, art and entertainment boutique, leads among plaintiffs firms with 741 cases, more than double the next firm.
• In file-sharing cases, about 90% of cases settle. Top plaintiffs include movie production companies. And an erotic website leads the list of Internet file-sharing plaintiffs with 4,238 cases, about 15 times as many cases as the next most litigious plaintiff.
• Top districts for file-sharing cases are the Northern District of Illinois (936), the District of Colorado (601) and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (580); the District of New Jersey has risen to become the top district in recent quarters (setting a record of 139 cases in the first quarter of this year).
• Of all copyright cases since 2009, 26.2% were filed in the Central District of California and 11.1% in the Southern District of New York

Lisa Shuchman is a Reporter for Corporate Counsel magazine, an ALM sibling of Entertainment Law & Finance.