A federal judge in Buffalo has awarded $26,453 in attorney fees in a copyright case in which a bar/restaurant repeatedly ignored warnings and permitted the public performance of licensed music. The fee award in Broadcast Music v. Haibo, 10-cv-240, comes on the heels of a March 12 ruling in which Western District Judge William Skretny (See Profile) permitted the admission of testimony based on notes that were initially taken on a cell phone and then destroyed (NYLJ, March 16).
Skretny found that Broadcast Music Inc. had sent 26 letters and made 90 phone calls to Yings Wings Things advising the owner that a licensing agreement was required before certain songs could be performed at the bar. With “no viable explanation or defense for their violations,” Skretny on April 19 awarded fees at a rate of $360 per hour to attorney Paul Perlman, an experienced copyright lawyer, and $220 per hour to a senior associate. The court found that Perlman’s lengthy experience warranted the requested rate, which is slightly above the local prevailing rate of $355 for senior partners. Skretny also found that Cynthia Ludwig is entitled to $220 per hour rather than the prevailing local rate of $180 per hour because of her experience and status as a senior attorney at Hodgson Russ in Buffalo.
