Dr. Keith Bell is your prototypical copyright troll. But he’s the type of copyright troll you have to take seriously. Why? Because he files lawsuits in federal court and initiates actions in the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) even though his claims may seem bogus on the surface. The most recent lawsuit (as of writing this article) he initiated is against Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin because Kiffin merely published a copy of Dr. Bell’s “Winning Isn’t Normal” passage on X as motivation for his football players.
Dr. Keith Bell goes after head football coaches and common people. If you have received a demand letter from Dr. Bell or been named a defendant in a copyright infringement action that he has initiated, feel free to contact us. We have gone up against him in federal court and the CCB on multiple occasions and have no problem putting him in his rightful place.
Many people who are targets of Dr. Keith Bell decide to settle as opposed to fighting against his trolling behavior. In many circumstances, it makes sense to just pay off an individual who is accused of copyright infringement. But that is not always the case and that’s particularly true when it comes to Dr. Bell. In fact, there may be an avenue to recover your attorney’s fees and costs if Dr. Bell escalates the matter to litigation.
Consider the case of Bell v. Eagle Mountain Saginaw, Docket No. 21-10504 (5th Cir. May 14, 2021). In that case, the court noted that between 2006 and 2017, Bell filed over 25 copyright lawsuits. He has filed many more since. He is thus labeled a troll. In the Eagle Mountain case, Bell sued a high school after its softball team posted the “Winning Isn’t Normal” passage to its X (f/k/a Twitter) account. The court noted that (i) the school’s use was noncommercial, weighing in favor of fair use; (ii) the passage is “somewhat creative,” which led to a “meager victory” for Bell on this part of the fair use analysis; (iii) the amount and substantiality was neutral because only a small excerpt from Winning Isn’t Normal was used; and (iv) Dr. Bell failed to plausibly allege a “substantially adverse impact” on a legitimate market for his copyrighted work, weighing in favor of fair use.
The court also held that Dr. Keith Bell is a serial litigant who makes exorbitant demands for damages in hopes of extracting disproportionate settlements. The school shared a single page of Bell’s work and immediately removed the posts upon request. The holding added, “Bell was unable to identify any actual financial injury associated with that use but brought suit anyway. Attorney’s fees were thus an appropriate deterrent, both with respect to Bell and other copyright holders who might consider a similar business model of litigation.”
Thus, if you received a letter from Dr. Keith Bell or you have been sued by him, you may not only have a strong fair use defense but also can demand reimbursement of your legal fees. Sometimes there is even a statute of limitations defense that we can explore. As stated above, do not hesitate to reach out to us so we can look into your particular situation and figure out the best path forward.