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Chuck D of Public Enemy Sues UMG for Underpayment of Royalties for Digital Downloads

January 17, 2012
Contract Law, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Music
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This suit was filed a few months ago but it has just recently come under the Film. Esq. radar. On November 2, 2011, Carlton Douglas Ridenour (aka Chuck D of the musical group Public Enemy) filed a class action suit against UMG Recordings, Inc. (UMG) for various claims including breach of contract and violations of California and  New York’s unfair competition statutes. The factual basis for the claims arises from UMG’s alleged underpayment of artist royalties for digital downloads and ringtones under their standard master recording agreements. The complaint is available in PDF format at the bottom of the post.

  1. Ridenour v. Universal Music Group

 

 

Copyright Suit Against Insane Clown Posse Filed on Halloween

November 27, 2011
Copyright, Intellectual Property, Music
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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.

  1. Entity Productions v. Psychopathic Records

Wolverine "Leaker" is a Weak Link in the Chain

January 3, 2010
Copyright, Criminal Law, Movies, Piracy
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A FBI arrest was recently made in the leak of the Wolverine film, but it is very obvious that the suspect is only a weak link in the chain. The indictment of alleged Wolverine leaker Gilberto Sanchez, who is a Bronx resident, states that he uploaded a copy of the film to Megaupload, which is a popular file sharing site. This is it. There is still no information about where the file actually came from. In fact, Gilberto Sanchez told the New York Daily News that he bought the file from some “guy on the street for five bucks.” Was his lawyer around? Anyway, it took almost a year for the FBI to arrest Sanchez. If what he says is actually true, it is highly unlikely that the actual source of the file will ever be found.

Winnie the Pooh Copyrights Remain With Disney

October 18, 2009
Copyright, Disney
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Disney was recently successful in fending off litigation surrounding rights in one of its most popular characters: Winnie the Pooh. Stephen Slesinger, Inc. (SSI) acquired copyrights in the Winnie the Pooh in 1930. In 1961 and 1983, SSI licensed its exclusive rights in the character to the Walt Disney Company. Later, Disney was named a counter-defendant in a thirteen-year rights dispute involving SSI and the estate of Winnie the Pooh creator A. A. Milne. After unsuccessfully suing Disney for royalties in California state court, SSI brought a federal action for various claims, including copyright and trademark infringement. In a September 25, 2009 opinion by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, it washeld that SSI assigned all of its rights in Winnie the Pooh to Disney and, as a result, there as no basis for any of its intellectual property claims.

(Some of) Superman Returns

August 20, 2009
Comic Books, Copyright, DC Comics, Superman
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There was a real drought in the Siegel v. Warner Brothers Entertainment (aka the Superman case), which was previously covered in posts about the general Superman copyright issues and the Superman alter-ego theory. Now, a recent ruling held in the case that the Siegel family recaptured certain rights to the Superman character. Specifically, although ownership in Superman material published from 1938 to 1943 remains with Warner Brothers, the Siegels have retained copyrights to the following material:

  1. Action Comics No. 1;
  2. Action Comics No. 4;
  3. Superman No. 1, pages three through six, and
  4. the initial two weeks’ worth of Superman daily newspaper strips.

The four sets of material mentioned above includes Superman’s origin story, his parents Jor-El and Lora, infant Superman, and other story elements. The materials from 1938 to 1943 includes “kryptonite,” Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, and Superman’s ability to fly.
Note that this dispute originated when the Siegels sought to terminate a grant to Warner of Superman copyrights. What this decision ultimately means is that the termination requests are valid, and all interests that Warner (and by default, DC) has in these materials will expired at the end of the original grant (i.e., 2013). Thus, Warner will have to negotiate and pay to use any of the copyrighted material after that.

  1. Siegel v. Warner Bros Entertainment 8/12/09 Opinion

Famous Monsters of Fair Use

August 19, 2009
Comic Books, Copyright, Fair Use
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Warren Publishing is the company behind such classic horror magazines like Creepy, Eerie, and Famous Monsters of Filmland. In the recent case of Warren Publishing Co. v. Spurlock, Warren Publishing was on the losing end of a copyright dispute involving covers from some of its magazines.

The artwork of Basil Gogos appeared on the cover of at least 50 issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland as well as covers of a few issues of Eerie and Creepy. David Spurlock and Vanguard Productions published a book entitled Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos that reproduced 24 of these covers, 10 of which were portrayed as covers, and 14 of which appeared without any Warren magazine text.

In response to the book’s publication, Warren brought an action for copyright and trademark infringement. Spurlock successfully presented a fair use defense to the Warren’s copyright. Of great significance was the court’s reasoning as to the first factor in the four-part fair use analysis under 17 U.S.C. § 107: the purpose and character of the work. Here, the judge found that Spurlock’s uses of the covers was transformative since the the Gogos book presented the images for an entirely different purpose than the Warren magazines (i.e., using the covers to sell magazines versus using the illustrations for a biography or career retrospective).

  1. Warren v. Spurlock opinion

Why the FBI is Investigating the Wolverine Leak

April 3, 2009
Copyright, Criminal Law, Movies, Piracy
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Litigation copyright infringement is generally handled as a civil matter (e.g., RIAA music downloading cases) but occassionally, the Department of Justice (DOJ) pursues criminal charges against copyright infringers under 17 U.S.C. § 506 and 18 U.S.C. § 2319. Such prosecutions are rare. So, the announcement that the FBI is assisting Fox in tracking who leaked the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, is a big red flag that a criminal charges will be filed. In this regard, one suspects that the DOJ will attempt to make an example of out of the person(s) responsible for this leak by pursuing the heaviest possible penalties under the federal sentencing guidelines. This should be a very interesting case to watch.

Stan Lee East Coast Update: There Isn’t One

April 3, 2009
Comic Books, Copyright, Stan Lee
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The case of Abadin et al v. Marvel Characters, Inc. et al. was filed almost two months ago. After the initial flurry of filings and press releases, there have been very few developments in this case, which pits Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee against shareholders in Stan Lee Media, Inc. (SLMI). The last filing of any consequence was a consent order for substitution of counsel (Martin Garbus, who is the lawyer for the plaintiffs, joined the Eaton and Van Winkle as a partner) on March 31, 2009. At this pace, this litigation will drag on for a very long time.

A Note on Fair Use

March 23, 2009
Copyright, Fair Use
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“Fair use” is a phrase that often arises in conversations about copyright and the arts. Some of the mainstream use of the term, which leans towards a philosophical or political stance, indicates that there is a bit of confusion about what “fair use” means in practical terms. In the world of copyright law, “fair use” denotes a statutorily defined legal standard. See 17 U.S.C. § 107. “Fair use” is an affirmative defense. In other words, it is the defense an alleged copyright infringer presents after a lawsuit has been filed against them. A court decides whether a particular use is “fair” by weighing 4 factors, which are defined in the previously mentioned statute. 

Thus, those integrating elements of copyrighted works into their own artwork, recordings or films should be aware that any reliance on “fair use” arguments does nothing to prevent them from having to spend money in order to defend a copyright infringement suit. As the saying goes, “tell it to the judge.”

Heroes Versus Astropia: Copying, Infringement or None of the Above?

March 20, 2009
Copyright, Movies
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Gunnar B. Gudmundsson’s Astropia has only screened twice in the United States but this Icelandic film set box office receipts in its home country. The film’s plot revolves around a pampered young woman whose main source of money (her crooked boyfriend) dries up, thus forcing her to take a job in a comic book store. The only reason she gets the job is because of her looks; she knows nothing about comics or role-playing games. She slowly acclimates to the job and makes new, nerdy friends.


So, when a clip from the popular NBC television show Heroes appeared online that looked very similar to those featured in Astropia, the creators of the film were rather alarmed. This sense of dismay was heightened by the fact that the creative team is currently negotiating for a U.S. remake. This scenario provides a convenient excuse to examine the applicable doctrine for determining copyright infringement in film scripts, books or plays. A legal breakdown will occur in the next post but for now, compare the the clips from Heroes and Astropia shown below. Keep in mind that the analysis goes beyond surface comparisons.

1. Clip from Heroes


2. Scene from Astropia