Permanent Injunction For A Willful Copyright Infringer?

Nope.  Injunctions do not automatically flow after a finding of infringement, even where infringement is willful.  Yellow Pages Photos sued Ziplocal and Yellow Pages Group for unauthorized usage of YPP's photos.  YPP produces and licenses images for use in advertising.  Ziplocal was formerly a licensee of YPP and YPG created and produced advertisements for Ziplocal.

YPP prevailed at trial, convincing the jury that defendants had willfully infringed its copyrights.  Specifically, the jury awarded $100,001 against Ziplocal for breach of contract, willful copyright infringement of 123 works, and contributory copyright infringement of 123 works.  The jury also awarded $123,000 against YPG for willful copyright infringement of 123 works.  After the jury trial, YPP sought both prejudgment interest and a permanent injunction.

To obtain a permanent injunction, you must show: (1) irreparable harm; (2) damages do not adequately compensate you for the harm; (3) the balance of hardships justifies an injunction; and (4) the public interest is best served with an injunction.  Even though you've established willful infringement, you must still prove these four factors.  The problem for YPP was that it had testified that money was enough to compensate for its injury and that it hadn't made any new sales in years:

Looking at the factors of irreparable harm and inadequate remedy at law, the Court concludes that Plaintiff has not shown that it will likely suffer irreparable harm in the future such that the damages already awarded by the jury will not adequately compensate for any losses. At the time of trial, and according to its sealed financial records, Plaintiff had not secured new customers since 2009. As the income from Plaintiff's photos and licensing revenues declined, Plaintiff did not obtain new customers, although Plaintiff's principal continued to attempt to market the photos and entered into negotiations to sell licenses to no avail. Without a new market or income stream derived from photos or licenses for approximately five years, Plaintiff is unable to show that it would be irreparably harmed by loss of income.
 

In addition to the lack of irreparable harm, Plaintiff's principal's testimony supports a finding that damages provide an adequate remedy at law, thereby negating the necessity of entering permanent injunctive relief. Plaintiff's principal testified that a monetary award would compensate him for Plaintiff's losses in the market. The Court concludes that the jury's finding of willful infringement on the part of both Defendants and ensuing damage award, provides an adequate remedy at law for Plaintiff's losses.

The Court did, however, award prejudgement interest ($17k against Ziplocal and $22k against YPG).

Permanent Injunction denied; prejudgment interest granted.
Yellow Pages Photos, Inc. v. Ziplocal, LP, Case No. 8:12-cv-755 (M.D. Fla. June 18, 2014) (J. Lazzara)