Photographer Awarded $1.8 Million in Legal Fees in Defending Case

I have written on occasion about the subject of either plaintiffs or
defendants being, at least in theory, eligible for attorneys' fees in
copyright infringement litigation.
Tom Forsythe, an artist and photographer, was in the unfortunate position
of being sued by Mattel, Inc. for copyright infringement. Forsythe had
produced a series of 78 photographic images of Mattel's Barbie Doll, showing
her nude in or around various household appliances. Forsythe displayed his
photos at art fairs without, apparently, much commercial success.
Mattel, however, was apparently not amused, and in 1999 sued for copyright
and trademark infringement. Mattel was not very successful in its suit,
losing a motion for a preliminary injunction and ultimately having the suit
dismissed in August 2001 on the grounds that Forsythe's work was a parody,
and thus protected as a fair use under the Copyright Act. Mattel appealed
from the dismissal and Forsythe appealed the refusal of the District Court
Judge to award him legal fees.
In December 2003, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the fair use
defense but sent the case back to the Trial Judge to reconsider the issue of
attorneys' fees.
Upon reconsideration, the Trial Judge has now awarded attorneys' fees to
Forsythe in the sum of $1.8 million! The Judge slammed Mattel's
determination to continue its attempt to, through its hefty economic clout,
coerce an artist to give up his artistic rights. The Court specifically
alluded to Mattel's "access to sophisticated counsel who could have
determined that such a suit was objectively unreasonable and frivolous," and
that Mattel "forced [fors