The sports entertainment production company that licensed the 2015 boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao for commercial use has won attorney fees in a case in which it sued a bar for unlicensed exhibition of the match.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Leeson of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted J&J Sports Productions' motion for attorney fees and costs of approximately $7,000. However, Leeson denied the company's request to reconsider awarding greater damages in the case.

The case centered on defendant Anthony Maglietta allegedly holding an unauthorized showing the boxing match at his bar, Molly's Pub, in violation of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act, according to Leeson's Dec. 18 opinion.

"Defendants Molly's Pub Inc. and its agent Anthony Maglietta did not have a sublicense agreement with J&J for the exhibition of the program, nonetheless they intercepted and exhibited the program the night of its broadcast to between 20 and 26 patrons of Molly's Pub," Leeson said.

Maglietta did not respond to the lawsuit and a default judgment was entered in favor of J&J in the amount of $4,000 in damages—instead of the $30,000 total J&J sought. J&J is represented by Thomas Riley of South Pasadena, California.

"Having reviewed the contemporaneous billing records submitted by J&J's counsel, the court finds the time billed—24.76 hours in total—and the specific tasks for which that time was billed, to be reasonable in light of the requirements of this case," Leeson said. "Moreover, the court finds that the hourly rates at which the three participants of counsel's firm billed—$500 for Mr. Riley, $300 for the research attorney, and $100 for the administrative assistants—were also reasonable in light of each individual's qualifications and the 'market rates in the relevant community.'"

J&J also argued that $7,500 in statutory damages and $22,500 in enhanced damages was a more appropriate award for the underlying case. However, the court did not see it that way.

"There are two things immediately obvious from J&J's motion for reconsideration that support—indeed, mandate—this conclusion. First, J&J has not cited a single case from this district in which a court has laid out an alternative method of determining the level of statutory damages from the method utilized by this court and other courts in this district," Leeson said. "Second, and relatedly, J&J affirmatively concedes that the method used by this court is consistent with the method used by other courts in this district. … The court declines to restate in general why this method is legally sound, and will limit its treatment here of the method of determining statutory damages to the arguments raised by J&J.

Riley did not respond to a request for comment.