DeWitt secures $3.9M in copyright infringement damages

A jury awarded a Wisconsin-based graphic artist $3,980,533.30 in damages for infringed illustrations. Judge William Conley confirmed the judgement amount and post-appeals decision Friday. The case was tried by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

A team of Dewitt attorneys represented Amy Sullivan against Flora, Inc., a business that commissioned Sullivan’s work for advertising use. In 2017, a jury decided in favor of the plaintiff, awarding her the $3.9 million. Flora, Inc. appealed the verdict and entry of final judgement in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The court of appeals opinion affirmed in part and vacated in part the ruling, remanding the case back to the Western District where Judge Conley confirmed the judgement last week.

According to the suit, Flora, Inc. used Sullivan’s illustrations from previous videos without her consent in a separate new online promotional advertising. Except for two English language promotional videos, Sullivan had reserved all usage of her illustrations to herself with Flora, Inc. only having permission for initial use. Following the filing of the infringement suit, Flora, Inc. continued to use Sullivan’s copyrighted illustrations despite being notified of the suit.

The DeWitt team was comprised of intellectual property litigators Harry Van Camp, Eli Van Camp and Laura Davis.

Laura Davis is partner in DeWitt’s Litigation, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment Relations and Background Screening practice groups.

Eli Van Camp is a trial attorney with a focus on intellectual property and business litigation.

Harry Van Camp is co-chair of DeWitt’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice group at the firm’s Madison office.