Joseph Teixeira is getting $117,000 for legal fees after the whole copyright fiasco.
District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald granted the request to recover attorney fees earlier this month. This, coupled with the stark dismissal of the City of Inglewood’s claims of copyright infringement, brings a sweeping close to the city’s attempt to silence their loudest critic.
Teixeira came into the crosshairs after he began posting videos to YouTube that used footage from Inglewood City Council meetings to criticize Mayor James Butts.
In his ruling, the judge called the Council's complaints "objectively unreasonable" and stated that the City's case "posed a serious threat to critical political expression." The judge also shot down the argument that Inglewood filed suit to protect financial interests, instead saying, “...the City's most plausible purpose was to stifle Defendant's political speech after he harshly criticized the City's elected officials."
Lastly, the judge qualified the awarding of the attorney fees, saying that it “...will serve to deter other entities, whether public or private, that contemplate bringing unreasonable suits to pressure an individual into abandoning a protected activity.
A blunt notice that fair-use doctrine applies to cities, just in case you thought otherwise.
Teixeira’s videos can be found here.
The judge’s order can be found here.