Copyright mediation enables parties to avoid the unusually high cost of copyright litigation. The 2017 AIPLA Economic Survey reports that the average cost of a copyright lawsuit ranges from $200,000 to $1,000,000. The costs can be contributed to the highly specialized field of copyright law, which is complex and highly nuanced. In addition, the creative work can range from highly technical architectural works, to software code, to musical composition to literary works.
The result of the complexity of the law is multiplied by the inherent ambiguity in the law. Expensive expert witness are often essential and carry their own large price tag. Jurors not trained in this particular area, and judges rarely have an extensive background in trademark law. No lawyer can give strong assurances of prevailing, especially when the critical test is whether the two works are “substantially similar.” In addition, trademark disputes are often difficult to evaluate from a damages perspective, as it can be challenging for the parties to produce evidence of damages they seek, and even more challenging for the jury to arrive at a fair award.
The marriage between Title 17 of the United States code and the code of federal regulations is not a subject easily mastered. Hiring a mediator experienced in copyright law provides the participants the opportunity to immediately begin addressing the dispute without spending time educating the mediator about the law.
Using an experienced copyright lawyer as your mediator offers the parties the opportunity to lean on the mediator’s experiences in handling copyright cases to help both sides understand what they face in the lawsuit. Whether it be helping the parties understand the substantial similarity test on source code, the evolving standards for architectural works, or how jurors may react to damage theories, an experienced trademark mediator can help find common ground and resolve the dispute.
