The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed a lower court’s decision denying attorney fees to both parties involved in the ‘Success Kid’ copyright suit. This decision follows a jury’s conclusion that former Iowa Congressman Steven Arnold King’s campaign committee innocently infringed on the copyrighted meme by posting it without permission.
The plaintiff, Laney Marie Griner, who owns the copyright to the meme’s template photo, sued King and his committee, King for Congress, for copyright infringement. The committee used the ‘Success Kid’ meme—a viral internet image of Griner’s 11-month-old son taken in 2007—asking supporters to “FUND OUR MEMES!!!” Griner registered the copyright for the ‘Success Kid’ image in 2012.
The court ultimately concluded that the jury appropriately determined the committee did not make fair use of the image, as the fair use test weighed heavily in Griner’s favor.
For further details, refer to the original article.