Stanford Center for Internet and Society

In May, BT secured a complete victory over Plaintiffs Ralph Vargas and Bland-Ricky Roberts when the court granted his summary judgment motion and dismissed Plaintiffs' case in its entirety. BT has now moved to recover the attorneys' fees and costs incurred in debunking Plaintiffs' meritless allegations of copyright infringement, which were based entirely on a passing similarity between two drumbeats derived from common elements of popular music. Claims like Plaintiffs' have the potential to stifle the creation of new musical works. By courageously fighting Plaintiffs' claims and succeeding, BT achieved an important victory for free expression and furthered the central purpose of the Copyright Act -- the promotion of new artistic works -- thus he should be awarded his attorneys’ fees. Read BT's motion here.