A motivational passage from Keith Bell’s book Winning Isn’t Normal sparks a legal battle after Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin shares it on Twitter. Scott Hervey and Tara Sattler dive into the lawsuit, exploring how the Fifth Circuit’s ruling raises important questions about fair use, copyright enforcement, and Bell’s “serial litigant” status.

Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel.

Show Notes:

Scott:
In 2021, we reported on the copyright lawsuit filed by inspirational book author, Keith Bell, against the defensive back coach for the Miami Dolphins, Jerold Alexander. This was based on the coach’s inclusion of a passage from Bell’s 1982 book, Winning Isn’t Normal, in a social media post, and a federal court’s refusal to dismiss Bell’s lawsuit based on Alexander’s arguments, including fair use. In that case, the Florida federal court judge said that consideration of the fair use defense on a motion to dismiss was not appropriate unless it’s clear, based on the complaint itself, that fair use is applicable. The party The purpose of that case later settled. However, Bell had a much different result in a lawsuit brought against the University of Mississippi football coach, Lane Kiffin.

I’m Scott Hervey, a partner with the law firm of Weintraub Tobin and I’m joined today by my partner, Tara Sattler.

We are going to take a look at this particular case and a related case in the Fifth Circuit to try to understand why this federal judge and the Fifth Circuit came to such a different conclusion than the judge in Florida based on essentially similar facts on this installment of the briefing.

Tara, welcome back to the briefing. I think this is going to be a real interesting discussion.

Tara:
It definitely is, and it’s really timely with the Super Bowl coming up here.

Scott:
It is timely with Super Bowl coming up, but it’s really appropriate that you and I are talking about that Giving all the coverage you and I have done on the Warhol case and the new analysis of fair use. Absolutely. Yeah. So let’s get into this case. Like Bell’s case against Alexander, Bell’s lawsuit against Lane Kiffin, the head football coach at the University of Mississippi, revolves around a passage from Bell’s book, Winning Isn’t Normal. And that passage is known as the win passage. This passage provides motivational advice, and Bell has separately copyrighted that passage. So Kiffin tweeted the passage, the same passage that Alexander had tweeted. However, here, Kiffin included no other commentary or elaborate on the passage while Alexander had.

Tara:
As we know from our previous coverage, this isn’t Bell’s first lawsuit over this passage. Bell has filed dozens of copyright lawsuits over similar social media uses of the wind passage. This became an issue in Bell’s lawsuit against the Eagle Mountain Saginaw Independent School district for a similar use. In that case, the Fifth Circuit declared Bell a serial litigant who makes exorbitant demands for damages in hopes of extracting disproportionate settlement.

Scott:
I want to talk about the Court’s criticism of Bell’s litigation strategies. But before we have that discussion, let’s talk about the Court’s treatment of Kiffin’s fair use argument. The Kiffin Court cited the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Bell versus Eagle Mountain, Saginaw, Independent School district, which dismissed a nearly, on a motion to dismiss, a 12: 06 So not a summary judgment motion, but a motion to dismiss just based on a complaint itself and the defense is advanced by the defendant. They dismissed a nearly identical claim on fair use grounds. So Let’s remember that this case is a post-Warhol Fair use case.

Tara:
Right. The Court’s analysis closely followed the framework established in Eagle Mountain. It applied the four statutory fair use factors codified in the Copyright Act. One, the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes. Two, the nature of the copyrighted work. Three, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and four, the effect of the use on the potential market or value of the copyrighted in the war.

Scott:
So interestingly, both the Fifth Circuit in the Eagle Mountain case and this court, the Kiffin Court, make no mention of the Supreme Court’s analysis in Warhol, which requires an analysis of whether the purpose of the secondary use is different enough to justify copying. Let’s look at what the court did say in looking at those four fair use factors.

Tara:
As mentioned, the court’s analysis closely followed the framework established in Eagle Mountain. First, regarding the purpose and character of the use, the court found Kiffin’s use to be non-commercial and intended to motivate and inspire, a purpose often protected under fair use. Next, to the nature of the copyrighted work. The wind passage was deemed creative, favoring Bell slightly, though the court noted this is generally the least significant factor. Third, the amount and substantiality of the portion used. While Kiffin tweeted the entire win passage, the court here determined this factor was neutral because the passage was already widely accessible online. Finally, with respect to the fourth factor, effect on the market, this was the decisive factor. The court here found no evidence that Kiffin’s tweet harmed the market for Bell’s book or related merchandise. Bell’s claims of potential licensing revenue were speculative at best.

Scott:
I have issues with the court’s analysis, and we’re going to get into that in a bit. I think it’s also important to point out, and it’s clear from the Fifth Circuit’s opinion that Bell’s litigation history just highly influenced the court’s decision. The court was critical of Bell’s history of targeting what the court referred to as minor and often harmless uses of the win passage, despite the fact that the uses were not authorized by win. Sorry, not authorized by Bell, calling Bell a serial litigant and comparing his behavior to that of a copyright troll. This bad faith history, as the court calls it, undercut Bell’s argument especially regarding the fair use analysis.

Tara:
That’s right. And Scott, you mentioned the issues that you have. So I have some, too. Let’s talk about them.

Scott:
Yeah. So let’s start with the court’s analysis of the first factor. The court said that anyone reading Kiffin’s tweet would assume that the post was Kiffin simply saying in effect, quote, Somebody said this, and I thought it was worth sharing. The The Court said that this is the contribution to the exchange of ideas which the copyright law should be very hesitant to find unlawful, particularly when the quote in question is of such a harmless and non-commercial nature as the wind passage. We’ve covered a number of copyright cases that stem from the post of a photo that a person didn’t take. I mean, think of the numerous celebrity photo cases that we’ve covered. I don’t ever recall any other court applying a similar analysis. Could you imagine the argument? Some photographer took this photo of me and I thought it was worth sharing. I just don’t agree with the court’s analysis here.

Tara:
That’s true. I agree with We have never seen this, and I can’t imagine that this type of an argument would really go over very well in any other case or any other type of situation.

Scott:
The court noted that Kiffin’s use was intended for motivational and inspirational purposes. Kiffin shared this post for the same reason that all the other coaches and sports organizations have shared this passage, motivation and inspiration. Now, Bell is an internationally recognized expert in sports psychology and performance enhancement. The purpose behind his book and its content is to motivate and inspire. Now, while...