Jury holds Walmart liable for online copyright infringement, rejects Walmart's DMCA defense

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Roxy Russell, an artist based in Pasadena, CA, designed a line of lamps featured in museums, magazines and hotels around the world. She registered copyrights in both her sculptural works and high-quality photographs of her sculptural works. A federal jury in Los Angeles, CA has now found that Walmart infringed Ms. Russell's copyrighted works. Ms. Russell is represented by Ruttenberg IP Law.

Ms. Russell brought suit against Walmart after spotting her copyrighted photographs on www.walmart.com on listings noted as "Sold & Shipped by Walmart." Ms. Russell also arranged to purchase the items on Walmart.com, only to find that her photographs were being used to sell a knock-off version of her lamps.

At trial, Walmart argued that the listings were posted by a third-party "drop-ship vendor" and asserted that the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (or DMCA) immunize Walmart from liability. But in a rare finding for online marketplaces, the jury rejected that defense, holding Walmart liable for infringing five separate copyrighted works, including the photographs and sculptural works.

"Walmart has finally been held accountable for what happens on its online marketplace," explained Guy Ruttenberg, lead counsel for Ms. Russell. Although the DMCA safe harbor has its place, Mr. Ruttenberg added, "Walmart cannot hide behind that defense for products listed as 'Sold and shipped by Walmart.'"

Over the past three-and-a-half years, the Court has also repeatedly rejected attempts by Walmart to invalidate Ms. Russell's copyright registrations, characterizing at least one of Walmart's arguments as "meritless."

"It was challenging going up against the world's largest retail company, but this is such an important vindication of artists' rights," noted Ms. Russell, while expressing appreciation that the jury held Walmart accountable here. 

Ms. Russell intends to seek her fees and costs for pursuing this action, which was filed in June 2019.

The full case name is Roxana Towry Russell v. Walmart Inc., et al., Case No. CV 19-5495-MWF(JCx) (C.D. Cal.). The Plaintiff is represented by Guy Ruttenberg, Steve Papazian and Bruce Kuyper of Ruttenberg IP Law, A Professional Corporation.

SOURCE Ruttenberg IP Law, APC