On June 16, 2016, the Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (available here). Section 505 of the Copyright Act states that a district court “may . . . award a reasonable attorney’s fee to the prevailing party.” The Court held:
The question presented here is whether a court, in exercising that authority, should give substantial weight to the objective reasonableness of the losing party’s position. The answer . . . is yes—the court should. But the court must also give due consideration to all other circumstances relevant to granting fees; and it retains discretion, in light of those factors, to make an award even when the losing party advanced a reasonable claim or defense.