Copyright Suit Against Insane Clown Posse Filed on Halloween
Entity Productions, the company behind the music group Midnight Syndicate, is suing Psychopathic Records and the horror-rap group Insane Clown Posse (ICP) for copyright infringement. A copy of the full complaint can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of this post. The suit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern Division of Ohio on October 31, 2011, claims that two separate Insane Clown Posse albums – Mirror Mirror and Tales From the Lotus Pod — contain excerpts from various Midnight Syndicate recordings and compositions. The alleged infringement goes back as far as 2009.
The complaint goes as far to say that some ICP tracks are simply Midnight Syndicate
recordings with overdubbed vocals. The complaint claims a total of 14 copyrights were infringed (7 compositions and 7 recordings). As such, the requested statutory relief is $2,100,000 ($150K per infringement) and a permanent injunction against further use of the recordings and compositions.
According to their website, Midnight Syndicate creates “Halloween music and gothic, horror, fantasy soundtracks for the imagination.” The group has created instrumental music for television, film, video games, haunted houses, and other musicians.