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Dr. Keith Bell Sues Bartholomew School District and Coach for Alleged Copyright Infringement

Author, Dr. Keith F. Bell (“Plaintiff”), has filed another copyright infringement suit in Indiana (see past suit), this time against Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (“Bartholomew”) and Timothy Bless (“Bless”), again claiming infringement of his intellectual property. Dr. Bell wrote the book Winning Isn’t Normal in 1981, and the key passage titled “Winning Isn’t Normal” (WIN) is central to the book. Dr. Bell holds the copyrights for both the book and WIN, registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. He has invested significant effort in promoting his work, which is sold through his websites and various products like posters and t-shirts.

Dr. Bell alleges that Bless, as an employee of Bartholomew and a coach at Columbus North High School, used his copyrighted material without permission by posting a representation of the WIN chapter on social media in March 2022. Dr. Bell claims this act violated his exclusive rights, including reproduction, distribution, and public display of his intellectual property. He asserts that Bartholomew was aware of the infringement and failed to prevent it, benefiting from the activities linked to Bless’s posts. Additionally, Dr. Bell accuses the defendants of removing copyright management information from his work, violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Dr. Bell further states that Bartholomew and Bless had previously entered into a settlement agreement in 2020, where they agreed to cease using WIN without proper authorization. He claims that the defendants’ actions in 2022 breached that agreement. As a result, Dr. Bell seeks injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, and damages up to $150,000 per infringed work.

The case has been assigned to Judge Tanya Walton Pratt and Magistrate Judge Kellie M. Barr  in the U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana Case No. 1:24-cv-01692-TWP-KMB.

Complaint

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