Latin American Music Company, D/B/A Asociacion De Compositoresy v. American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers

In this copyright case, plaintiff Latin American Music Company (“LAMCO”) has filed its second motion for reconsideration of an order awarding attorneys’ fees incurred on appeal in favor of defendant American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (“ASCAP”). Once again the motion is denied.

We begin with a brief sketch of the relevant background.*fn2 As a result of its success defending a favorable jury verdict, ASCAP applied for attorneys’ fees incurred on appeal. LAMCO, however, failed to respond within the time set by our local rules. See First Circuit Local Rule 39.1(b) (requiring response to application for attorneys’ fees within thirty days). We carefully reviewed ASCAP’s application, and, after an additional month had passed without response, we granted the application and awarded ASCAP $89,327.52. Ten days after our order entered, LAMCO filed an objection to ASCAP’s application styled as a motion for reconsideration. LAMCO attributed its tardiness to an “office error,” and raised a host of issues challenging the award, including (1) ASCAP’s status as a prevailing party, (2) whether ASCAP registered the disputed song,*fn3 and (3) the overall reasonableness of the award. We reexamined ASCAP’s application in light of LAMCO’s untimely arguments, but ultimately concluded that the award should stand. Accordingly, we denied LAMCO’s motion.