The UCLA Music Copyright Infringement Resource provides documentation and commentary relating to music copyright infringement cases in the U.S. that were tried, and that resulted in written judicial opinions. Most music copyright infringement disputes, however, are settled before trial. InPlay will cover, therefore, ongoing and recent disputes in the U.S. and abroad, including those that may not proceed to trial. These disputes often involve well-known popular musicians, and raise questions that are broadly interesting about copyright law and popular music.
Recent and Ongoing Disputes (most recent listed first)
A dispute initiated by an aspiring pop singer in Chicago, involving a fortuitously titled song, "Judas", by Stefani Germanotta.
Bum rap for Audi? Mather's claim that Audi's advertisement -- obviously derivative of one Mathers earlier participated in for Chrysler -- infringes on his protected expression.
In August 2010 election officials in Haiti decided that pop singer Wyclef Jean was ineligible to run for president, presumably because he did not meet residency requirements for presidential candidates.(
www.thesmokinggun.com reports that Wyclef Jean lives in a McMansion in Saddle River, New Jersey – where Nixon retired – and that his Haiti passport has likely spent most of the past five years – residency term requirement in Haiti – in a desk drawer in the Garden State.) In November 2010 Jean was saddled with another legal quandary, this time in the form of a revived copyright infringement claim by Martel Ellis, a singer apparently well-known as “Blah-zay”. Jean is a seasoned litigant, however, having fielded no fewer than three other copyright infringement claims between 2000 and 2008.
Yes, that really is the plaintiff’s name… Batt’s claim concerns “Black Eyed Peas’” “Boom Boom Pow” and her “Boom Dynamite”.
The regrettable power of suggestion… Not long after Batts filed suit against “Black Eyed Peas” another little-known pop musician from Texas claimed that the band’s “I Gotta Feeling” infringed the copyright of his ambient rock number “Take a Dive”. Plaintiff Bryan Pringle is represented by the same lawyers working on Batt’s claim – it would be interesting to learn the fee arrangement terms Batts and Pringle have negotiated with these lawyers.
A claim brought by the copyright owner of "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" (and we all thought this was a public domain Australian folk song!) against the publisher of "Down Under," a song popular in Australia in the 1980s. In July, 2009 the Federal Court of Australia determined that the plaintiff had good title to "Kookaburra". In February, 2010 the same court determined that the music of defendant's "Down Under" infringed upon plaintiff's "Kookaburra". On 6 July, 2010 the court ruled that EMI must pay the plaintiff five percent both of royalties produced by "Down Under" since 2002, as well as any future royalties.
A claim filed in a U.S. District Court in California in April, 2009. The dispute involves alleged unauthorized sampling of plaintiff's work by defendant Usher Raymond in his recording of "Burn".
A claim Joe Satriani, a guitar player, based on Coldplay's popular "Viva la Vida". The parties settled in September, 2009.
A dispute involving a Red Sox pep tune by local Boston musician Samuel Steele and a song performed by Jon Bongiovi for a television commercial. In August, 2009 a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts held for Bongiovi et al. by granting defendants' request for summary judgement.