DISMISSAL MADE DEFENDANT PREVAILING PARTY FOR ATTORNEYS FEES AWARD

Tavory v. NTP, Inc., [2008-1090] (October 28, 2008) [MICHEL, Newman, and Bryson] The Federal Circuit affirmed the award of attorney’s fees in favor of NTP because defects in Tavory's copyright registration divested the court of subject matter jurisdiction over his copyright infringement claim.
DISCUSSION: Tavory sued NTP suit seeking: (1) to add himself as a co-inventor to certain patents, (2) copyright infringement as to the software Tavory had allegedly written, and (3) unjust enrichment. The district court dismissed the unjust enrichment claim, and granted summary judgment on the inventorship and copyright claims. Regarding the copyright infringement claim, the court held that Tavory's copyright registration was defective because the purported copy of his software that he deposited with the Copyright Office was not a bona fide copy of Tavory's original software, and awarded attorneys fees. Tavory objected that because the copyright claim was dismissed, NTP was not a prevailing party. The Federal Circuit said that the Supreme Court has held that the term "prevailing party," as that term is used in various federal attorney's fees statutes, requires that the party have obtained some kind of relief from the court on the merits of the claim such that a "material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties" has occurred. The Federal Circuit concluded that the judgment did materially alter their legal relationship, and that it rendered NTP the prevailing party within the meaning of § 505.