Ah,
Steve
King.
Not
the
famed
author
of
horror
fiction,
of
course.
I’m
talking
about
the
former
representative
from
Iowa
who
authored all
kinds
of
political
horror,
instead.
This
fucking
guy
was
perhaps
best
known
for
wanting
a
fence
on
our
southern
border
to
be
of the
electrified
variety,
for
keeping a
Confederate
flag
on
his
desk despite
Iowa
never
being
in
the
Confederacy,
and
for
all
of
the barely-veiled
racism and
anti-Muslim
bigotry
you
can
stomach.
He
also
committed
copyright
infringement,
according
to
the
courts.
Or,
rather,
his
campaign
did
when
it
put
out
a
Facebook
post
using
the
“Success
Kid”
meme
in
order
to
raise
funds,
promising
to
keep
the
memes
flowing
so
as
to
best
trigger
the
libs.
Now,
you
will
notice
that
the
post
makes
what
is
essentially
a non-transformative
use of
the
famous
“Success
Kid”
meme.
That
image
is
also
registered
for
copyright
by
the
mother
of
the
boy
in
the
image,
Laney
Griner.
Griner
threatened
to
sue
and
eventually
did
so,
ultimately
winning
in
court.
Now,
we
cast
fairly
narrow
eyes
at
this
whole
thing.
Griner
was
very
public
that
she
took
action
against
King
not
primarily
out
of
respect
for
copyright
law,
but
because
she
rightly
found
King
to
be
an
abhorrent
person
and
didn’t
want
her
or
her
son
to
be
associated
with
his
campaign.
That
isn’t
a
great
look
in
general
for
the
way
copyright
law
is
supposed
to
work
(it’s
about
protecting
the
work,
not
suppressing
specific
types
of
speech,
even
abhorrent
speech)
but
it
does
help
to
explain
some
of
Griner’s
actions
during
the
court
proceedings.
In
particular,
while
she
sued
for
$50k,
King
offered
to
settle
for
$15k.
Griner refused
and
ultimately
instead
won
$750 in
damages.
No,
I’m
not
missing
a
“k”
in
there.
This
was
a
three-figure
outcome.
But
that
doesn’t
account
for
legal
fees,
which
both
sides
attempted
to
recover.
Both
were
rejected
by
the
court.
King
appealed
that
ruling,
with
the
appeal
making
all
kinds
of
claims
defending
his
use
of
the
meme
that
his
own
legal
team
had
already
conceded
in
court.
Then
King
attempted
to
cite Rule
68
of
the
Federal
Rules
of
Civil
Procedure.
That
failed
spectacularly
as
well.
Under
Rule
68,
if
one
party
declines
a
pre-trial
settlement
offer
and
later
receives
a
judgment
smaller
than
that
amount,
the
side
that
rejected
the
settlement
“must
pay
the
costs
incurred
after
the
offer
was
made.”
King
argued
on
appeal
that
attorney’s
fees
are
part
of
those
costs.
But
the
Eighth
Circuit
held
that
the
campaign
“cannot
recover
attorney’s
fees
because
it
is
not
a
prevailing
party.
Under
the
Copyright
Act,
only
prevailing
parties
may
be
awarded
a
reasonable
attorney’s
fee.”
Not
willing
to
take
no
for
an
answer,
but
apparently
very
willing
to
continue
to
pile
up
legal
fees,
King
then
petitioned
SCOTUS
to
hear
the
case
for
those
legal
fees.
He
chiefly
cited
Rule
68
again,
whereas
Griner’s
team
pointed
out
that
this
whole
thing
had
originally
been
decided
on
summary
judgment.
SCOTUS,
unsurprisingly,
declined
to
hear
the
case,
sending
King
packing.
In
comments
since
SCOTUS’
rejection,
King
demonstrates
that
he
hasn’t
changed
one
bit
since
leaving
Congress.
The
way
in
which
we
won
the
case
allowed
us
to
potentially
recover
our
attorneys’
fees
from
the
Plaintiffs.
Our
litigation
team
found
a
silver
bullet
for
lawfare,
but
the
trial
court
refused
to
implement
Rule
68,
under
the
opinion
that
it
could
not
do
so.
This
is
a
shame
because
the
solution
to
lawfare
may
not
be
passing
new
laws,
but
rather
utilizing
relatively
unused
rules
already
in
existence.
In
summary,
the
picture
at
issue
had
been
used
billions
of
times.
I
was
targeted
by
Leftist
copyright
trolls
who
through
the
use
of
lawfare
sought
to
drain
me
of
my
life
savings,
time
and
credibility.
I
will
always
wonder
if
the
jury
award
would
have
been
$1.00
if
the
law
would
have
allowed
it.
He didn’t win
the
case,
Rule
68
doesn’t
apply
because
copyright
law
says
so,
and
if
he
had
just
let
the
summary
judgment
stand,
this
case
would
have
been
far
less
expensive
for
him
than
it
ended
up
being.
In
other
words,
the
only
one
that
appears
to
want
to
drain
Kings’
life
saving
is
King.
Somehow
I
don’t
think
he’s
quite
reached
the
need
for
those
foodstamps
he
wanted
to
defund
just
yet.
SCOTUS
Tells
Steve
King
To
Go
Away
In
‘Success
Kid’
Case
Over
Legal
Fees
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