Dash v. Mayweather
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
731 F.3d 303 (2013)
Anthony Dash (plaintiff) composed an instrumental track he never sold or licensed; boxer Floyd Mayweather (defendant) used similar music for his own song "Yep," which played during his WWE Wrestlemania entrances, and Dash sued for copyright infringement seeking lost licensing fees and disgorgement of profits, but his expert's damages estimates relied on licensing rates paid for famous artists' music (not Dash's own, since he had never sold any) and combined Mayweather's and WWE's total appearance-related profits without isolating any contribution from the allegedly infringing song. The district court granted Mayweather's motion for partial summary judgment on both damages theories.
Whether, for a copyright holder to receive either actual damages or profit damages for copyright infringement, the holder must show a causal connection between the infringing use and the requested damages.