Bayoh v. Afropunk Fest 2015 LLC et al
Filing
184
OPINION AND ORDER re: 172 MOTION to Vacate July 11, 2018 Order. filed by Jocelyn Cooper, Matthew Morgan, Afropunk LLC. The defendants December 2, 2020 motion to vacate the July 11, 2018 preliminary injunction is granted. The Clerk of Court shall enter judgment for the defendants and close the case. (Signed by Judge Denise L. Cote on 12/18/2020) (jca) Transmission to Orders and Judgments Clerk for processing.
Case 1:18-cv-05820-DLC-KNF Document 184 Filed 12/18/20 Page 1 of 4
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
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X
:
MAMBU BAYOH,
:
:
Plaintiff,
:
:
-v:
:
AFROPUNK LLC, MATTHEW MORGAN and
:
JOCELYN COOPER, individually,
:
:
Defendants.
:
:
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18cv5820
(DLC)
MEMORANDUM
OPINION AND
ORDER
DENISE COTE, District Judge:
On July 11, 2018, the defendants were preliminarily
enjoined from any infringing use, sale, or distribution of the
plaintiff’s allegedly infringed photographs.
For the following
reasons, the defendants’ motion to vacate the July 11, 2018
preliminary injunction is granted.
Background
In 2015, defendant Afropunk paid plaintiff Mambu Bayoh to
provide photographs that could be used in connection with the
2015 Afropunk music festival in Brooklyn, New York.
Afropunk
paid Bayoh $1,200 and received twenty-eight photographs from
him.
The parties began to dispute the scope of the license
Bayoh had granted Afropunk almost immediately.
On June 27, 2018, Bayoh filed this lawsuit, seeking damages
and injunctive relief, for the alleged infringement of his
Case 1:18-cv-05820-DLC-KNF Document 184 Filed 12/18/20 Page 2 of 4
copyright in the photographs.
Bayoh moved for a preliminary
injunction, and a hearing on the injunction was scheduled for
July 11.
The defendants had not yet appeared in this action,
however, and they did not oppose the preliminary injunction.
On
July 11, a preliminary injunction issued and enjoined the
defendants from any infringing use, sale, or distribution of the
plaintiff’s allegedly infringed photographs.
On November 10, as this litigation neared its conclusion,
the defendants expressed an intent to move to vacate the 2018
preliminary injunction.
On December 2, the defendants filed
their motion to vacate.
The plaintiff opposed the defendants’
motion on December 8, and the defendants filed their reply on
December 11.
Also on December 11, an Opinion addressed the plaintiff’s
request for a permanent injunction.
The plaintiff has been
unable to show that he is entitled to an award of damages, and
therefore had resurrected a claim for a permanent injunction.
The Opinion concluded that the plaintiff had failed to produce
any evidence that he had suffered, was suffering, or would
suffer any irreparable harm.
Bayoh v. Afropunk LLC, No.
18CV5820 (DLC), 2020 WL 7318277, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 11, 2020).
Accordingly, the plaintiff’s request for permanent injunctive
relief was denied, and the December 17 non-jury trial scheduled
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Case 1:18-cv-05820-DLC-KNF Document 184 Filed 12/18/20 Page 3 of 4
to address that request was cancelled.
Id. at *5.
Familiarity
with that Opinion is assumed and it is incorporated by
reference.
All that remains to be decided in this case is the
defendants’ motion to vacate the 2018 preliminary injunction.
For the reasons stated below, the defendants’ motion to vacate
that injunction is granted.
Discussion
“On motion and just terms, the court may relieve a party or
its legal representative from a[n] . . . order[] . . . for the
following reasons: . . . applying [the judgment] prospectively
is no longer equitable; or . . . any other reason that justifies
relief.”
Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b).
“[A] court may issue a
preliminary injunction in a copyright case only if the plaintiff
. . . has demonstrated ‘that he is likely to suffer irreparable
injury in the absence of an injunction.’”
Salinger v. Colting,
607 F.3d 68, 79–80 (2d Cir. 2010) (citation omitted).
The Opinion of December 11, 2020 denied Bayoh’s claim for
permanent injunctive relief on the specific ground that he had
produced no evidence of irreparable harm.
Accordingly, there is
no longer any basis to concluded that he is “likely to suffer”
any irreparable injury.
Since Bayoh cannot establish any
3
Case 1:18-cv-05820-DLC-KNF Document 184 Filed 12/18/20 Page 4 of 4
irreparable harm, it is both necessary and appropriate to vacate
the preliminary injunction.
Conclusion
The defendants’ December 2, 2020 motion to vacate the July
11, 2018 preliminary injunction is granted.
The Clerk of Court
shall enter judgment for the defendants and close the case.
Dated:
New York, New York
December 18, 2020
__________________________________
DENISE COTE
United States District Judge
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