FROST-TSUJI ARCHITECTS V. HIGHWAY INN, INC., No. 15-15802 (9th Cir. 2017)

Annotate this Case

Download PDF

NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED OCT 26 2017 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT FROST-TSUJI ARCHITECTS, Plaintiff-Appellant, No. U.S. COURT OF APPEALS 15-15802 D.C. No. 1:13-cv-00496-SOM-BMK v. HIGHWAY INN, INC.; HO'OLA MAU, LLC; BRYCE E. UYEHARA, A.I.A., INCORPORATED; IWAMOTO AND ASSOCIATES, LLC; J. KADOWAKI, INC.; PALEKANA PERMITS LLC; BARGREEN ELLINGSON OF HAWAII, INC., MEMORANDUM* Defendants-Appellees. FROST-TSUJI ARCHITECTS, Plaintiff-Appellant, No. 16-15562 D.C. No. 1:13-cv-00496-SOM-BMK v. HIGHWAY INN, INC.; HO'OLA MAU, LLC; BRYCE E. UYEHARA, A.I.A., INCORPORATED; J. KADOWAKI, INC.; IWAMOTO AND ASSOCIATES, LLC; PALEKANA PERMITS LLC; BARGREEN ELLINGSON OF HAWAII, INC., * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. Defendants-Appellees. FROST-TSUJI ARCHITECTS, No. Plaintiff-Appellee, 16-15799 D.C. No. 1:13-cv-00496-SOM-BMK v. HIGHWAY INN, INC.; HO'OLA MAU, LLC; BRYCE E. UYEHARA, A.I.A., INCORPORATED, Defendants-Appellees, J. KADOWAKI, INC., Defendant-Appellant, IWAMOTO AND ASSOCIATES, LLC; PALEKANA PERMITS LLC; BARGREEN ELLINGSON OF HAWAII, INC., Defendants-Appellees. FROST-TSUJI ARCHITECTS, No. Plaintiff-Appellee, 16-15802 D.C. No. 1:13-cv-00496-SOM-BMK v. HIGHWAY INN, INC.; HO'OLA MAU, LLC, Defendants-Appellants, BRYCE E. UYEHARA, A.I.A., INCORPORATED; J. KADOWAKI, INC.; 2 IWAMOTO AND ASSOCIATES, LLC; PALEKANA PERMITS LLC; BARGREEN ELLINGSON OF HAWAII, INC., Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii Susan O. Mollway, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted October 12, 2017 U. of Hawaii Manoa Before: SCHROEDER, D.W. NELSON, and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges. Frost-Tsuji Architects brought this action against Highway Inn, Inc., a former client, and Ho ola Mau, LLC, J. Kadowaki, Inc., Bargreen Ellingson, Inc., Bryce E. Uyehara, A.I.A., Inc., Palekana Permits, LLC, and Iwamoto & Associates, LLC (collectively, “Highway Inn”), alleging that Highway Inn (1) infringed Frost-Tsuji’s copyright in architectural plans for a new restaurant, and (2) removed Frost-Tsuji’s copyright management information (“CMI”) from the plans in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), 17 U.S.C. § 1202(b)(1). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Highway Inn. The district court then denied Frost-Tsuji’s motions for reconsideration of the summary judgment orders. The court awarded Highway Inn attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in litigating the DMCA claim and in litigating the copyright 3 infringement claim after the district court’s August 26, 2014 summary judgment order. We review de novo the order granting summary judgment on Frost-Tsuji’s copyright infringement claim, Wolfe v. BNSF Ry. Co., 749 F.3d 859, 863 (9th Cir. 2014), and we affirm for the reasons stated in the district court’s order entered August 26, 2014. We review de novo the order granting summary judgment on Frost-Tsuji’s CMI removal claim under the DMCA, id., and we affirm for the reasons stated in the district court’s order entered November 7, 2014. We review for abuse of discretion the order denying Frost-Tsuji’s motion for reconsideration of the November 7, 2014 summary judgment order, 389 Orange St. Partners v. Arnold, 179 F.3d 656, 661 (9th Cir. 1999), and we affirm for the reasons stated in the district court’s order entered January 21, 2015. We review for abuse of discretion the order denying Frost-Tsuji’s motion for reconsideration of the August 26, 2014 summary judgment order, id., and we affirm for the reasons stated in the district court’s order entered January 23, 2015. We review for abuse of discretion the order awarding Highway Inn attorneys’ fees and costs under the Copyright Act, Maljack Productions, Inc. v. GoodTimes Home Video Corp., 81 F.3d 881, 889 (9th Cir. 1996), and under the DMCA, see Polar Bear Productions, Inc. v. Timex Corp., 384 F.3d 700, 719 (9th 4 Cir. 2004), and we affirm for the reasons stated in the district court’s order entered March 30, 2015. AFFIRMED. Each party shall bear its own costs and fees on appeal. 5

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.