Court Rejects Copyright Lawsuit Over Ole Miss Coach's Use of Motivational Speaker's "Winning Isn't Normal" Passage

The Fifth Circuit dismissed an action by the very same plaintiff in this case, based on an almost identical quotation on social media of an inspirational passage from his book Winning Isn't Normal .

In that action, the Fifth Circuit described plaintiff's book as follows: In 1982 , Bell published a 72 -page book that provides strategies for success in athletics.

The passage reads: Winning isn't normal. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with winning, it just isn't the norm.

A successful fair-use defense "appears on the face of the complaint," and Bell can "prove no set of facts" that would overcome it, the district court says.

We cannot see how the creative arts would be better served by permitting Bell 's suit to proceed, he says.

The softball team and flag corps used Bell 's work in good faith, for no commercial gain.

Anyone who visits plaintiff's website today can see the entire WIN Passage for free, at several different links on that site.

Plaintiff does not dispute that this was also the case when Eagle Mountain was decided.

Bell 's website offered visitors free views of the WIN Passage at the time of the tweet at issue in this case.