Lane Kiffin sued for copyright infringement over Ole Miss football coach's social media posts
OXFORD ― A lawsuit was filed against Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin on Tuesday over Kiffin's social media activity, according to court documents obtained by the Clarion Ledger.
The plaintiff, Dr. Keith Bell, is a Texas-based swimming psychologist and the author of a book published in 1981 entitled "Winning Isn't Normal" ‒ for which he owns the copyright. The lawsuit seeks damages from Kiffin on one count of copyright infringement resulting from a pair of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter. The filing did not include a specific financial demand.
The lawsuit states that Kiffin "retweeted" a passage from "Winning Isn't Normal" in 2016, and Bell responded by sending him cease-and-desist letters "informing him that his unauthorized copying of the WIN (Winning Isn't Normal) Passage constituted copyright infringement."
Kiffin then took down the post, according to the filing.
On March 20, 2022, Kiffin's X account posted a photo of a seven-paragraph passage under the heading "WINNING ISN'T NORMAL." Bell's lawsuit claims the post is nearly an exact copy of a passage from Winning Isn't Normal.
According to the filing, Bell sent another cease-and-desist letter to Kiffin, and claimed that the coach failed to comply with the demand. The lawsuit says "Kiffin's leaving up his infringing post is irrefutable evidence of willful infringement." A search of Kiffin's social media account indicated the post had been deleted.
The lawsuit argues that Kiffin's salary of $8.75 million, the volatility of SEC coaching jobs and the role social media posts play in recruiting make the use of the "Winning Isn't Normal" passage commercial in nature.
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The complaint, filed in the Oxford Division of the Northern Mississippi District of U.S. District Court, has been assigned to Senior Judge Michael P. Mills. A summons was issued on Tuesday for Kiffin.
An Ole Miss spokesperson told the Clarion Ledger on Wednesday the school does not have a response about the lawsuit "at this point."
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Why Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin sued over social media posts
