Category: Lawsuits

U.S. Court Upholds Beastie Boys’ Musical Sampling
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court has handed a victory to pioneering punk-rap group the Beastie Boys in a dispute over the growing musical practice of sampling, in which recording artists incorporate snippets of other songs into their own work.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined on Tuesday to reconsider its decision last year allowing the group to use a six-second segment of music from jazz flutist James Newton’s 1978 composition “Choir.”
A three-judge panel of the court held in 2003 that the band had abided by copyright protections by paying a license fee for a sample of Newton’s recording and therefore did not have to pay an additional fee to license the underlying composition.
That finding upheld a lower-court dismissal of the case in favor of the Beastie Boys, and the 9th Circuit on Tuesday refused to reconsider its ruling before a larger 11-judge panel.
“We hold that Beastie Boys’ use of a brief segment of that composition, consisting of three notes separated by a half-step over a background C note, is not sufficient to sustain a claim for infringement of Newton’s copyright,” Chief Judge Mary Schroeder wrote in her opinion.
The Beastie Boys used the sample in their song “Pass the Mic” on their 1992 album “Check Your Head.”
Representatives for Newton and the Beastie Boys were not immediately available for comment.
The Beastie Boys helped spark the modern sampling trend in popular music with the 1989 album “Paul’s Boutique,” which incorporated bits of music from sources as diverse as Johnny Cash, Bob Marley and the Beatles to create new music. Sampling has since become a staple of many artists, especially in the rap and hip-hop genres.
The Beastie Boys have also emerged as leading advocates of a new approach to licensing known as the Creative Commons, in which artists record songs that listeners are invited to “rip, sample, mash and share” over file-sharing online networks like Kazaa or borrow to create their own compositions.

Classmates Sue Over ‘Dazed and Confused’
SANTA FE, N.M. – Three former high school classmates of “Dazed and Confused” director Richard Linklater have filed a lawsuit claiming they have suffered embarrassment and ridicule because of characters based on them in the movie.
The men ó Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater and Richard “Pink” Floyd ó say Linklater did not get their permission before creating three characters in the 1993 cult classic sharing their surnames and likenesses. The suit was filed Thursday in Santa Fe against Universal Studios, which released the film.
The movie follows the drug- and alcohol-fueled hijinks of teenagers on the last day of school in May 1976. The men said the negative characterizations in the film have made their lives miserable and caused their neighbors to think poorly of them.
“We had fun in high school, but there is nothing true about that movie. Yet, I am having to deal with it all the time,” said Floyd, who works at a car dealership in Huntsville, Texas, where the men went to high school.
Ernest Freeman, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said Slater has also had problems because people make assumptions that he takes illegal drugs.
Slater runs a construction and remodeling company and Wooderson works in the technology sector. Both men also still live in Huntsville.
Linklater’s agent did not immediately return a message Saturday seeking comment.
The suit was filed in New Mexico because it has a longer statute of limitations than other states for claims of defamation and false light, attorneys said.

FBI ordered to release Lennon files
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FBI must turn over the remaining secret files on Beatle John Lennon to a professor who has waged a more than 20-year legal battle to get the documents, a judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi rejected government arguments Tuesday that releasing the last 10 pages would pose a national security risk because a foreign government secretly provided the information. The government was not publicly identified.
Jonathan Wiener, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, sued the U.S. government for the documents in 1983 under the Freedom of Information Act. He received 248 pages in 1997 as part of a settlement.
The previously released files, which were gathered from 1971 to 1972, include memos detailing Lennon’s donations to a group planning to demonstrate at the 1972 Republican National Convention. But they contain no allegations Lennon was involved in planning or committing illegal acts.
Wiener, a historian, originally sought the files for his 1984 book, “Come Together: John Lennon in His Time.” After the 1997 release, he wrote “Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files.”
His battle with the government went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Actress Rosario Dawson Arrested at Anti-Bush March
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actress Rosario Dawson, arrested at an anti-Bush march has been charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and the obstruction of governmental administration, officials said on Monday.
Dawson, 25, and Vija Grosgalves, 28, were filming a scene for the independent film “Medium Cool” in Manhattan on Sunday, using protests by thousands of protesters marching past Madison Square Garden as a backdrop.
Police nabbed the pair, alleging that they were “both masked” and used handkerchiefs “with only the area around their eyes showing,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court.
City laws bar protesters from hiding their identity with masks.
When their director, Stephen Marshall, 36, showed officers that they had a legitimate film permit issued by the city, police handcuffed him, too, and hauled the three away to be processed. Police said Marshall did not have a valid permit.
The three were released early Monday after they were arraigned. They are due back in court in November. If convicted, they each face up to a year in jail at Rikers Island.
Dawson, a New York-born actress, appears alongside Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie in Oliver Stone’s upcoming costume epic film “Alexander.” Her other credits include “Shattered Glass,” “Men in Black II” and “The Adventures of Pluto Nash.”

Van Halen Slugs Orioles With $2M Suit
Van Halen is suing the Baltimore Orioles for at least $2 million in damages, charging that the Major League Baseball team reneged on an offer for the band to play a concert Sept. 2 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The suit — filed Aug. 10 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles — states that Orioles director of entertainment Don Mark, under the instruction of Orioles owner Peter Angelos, first contacted Van Halen’s reps at the William Morris Agency in mid-April about playing at the stadium. According to the suit, “Van Halen was ambivalent about playing at the time requested by the Orioles,” because the band would be performing in the southern United States, and playing Baltimore would “necessitate changing the tour routing previously planned.”
The suit also notes that Van Halen was at the time engaged in a tour of mostly arenas, but “the Orioles insisted that they could more than compensate Van Halen for the expense and inconvenience scheduling the concert would cause.”
According to court papers, the Orioles around April 27 made an offer in writing for $1 million, which the band rejected. The Orioles came back with an offer of $1.5 million, plus 80% of ticket revenues and 80% of gross merchandise revenues. Also included was a budget for expenses and a non-compete provision that prohibited Van Halen from performing in other venues in the vicinity of Baltimore.
The papers say that after numerous communications between the parties, Van Halen accepted the offer in mid-June. The band began making preparations for a Sept. 2 concert at Oriole Park; Van Halen claims it terminated any efforts to book another venue in the area, changed the dates of other scheduled concerts and did not pursue other opportunities.
The suit says that the Orioles in mid-July “repudiated the agreement, first by refusing to communicate or cooperate with Van Halen, and then expressly in a letter dated July 26 … refusing to perform its obligations thereunder.”
Mark tells Billboard.biz he had “no comment whatsoever” on the Van Halen situation. Van Halen attorney Howard E. King of King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner in L.A., also declined to comment.
Van Halen’s North American tour continues. A DVD of the 1986 concert film “Live Without a Net” arrives Sept. 14 via Warner Strategic Marketing.

CRIA files appeal in song swap case
TORONTO — The Canadian Recording Industry Association, which represents the country’s major music producers, filed an appeal Monday hoping to overturn a decision last March which protected the identities of people who copy music online.
In arguments filed with the Federal Court of Appeal, the organization said Federal Court Judge Konrad von Finckenstein erred in his interpretation of the country’s copyright laws.
Comparing the action to using photocopy machines in public libraries, von Finckenstein said in his March 31 decision that uploading songs to shared folders on a home computer was permissible under the law.
He dismissed CRIA’s request to compel five Internet service providers — Shaw Communications Inc., Rogers Cable Communications Inc., Bell Canada, Telus Communications Inc. and Videotron Ltd. — to disclose the names of 29 people allegedly distributing music.
He said the music association had no legal entitlement to those identities, which are hidden by online aliases.

A Flap Over ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African lawyers are suing U.S. entertainment giant Walt Disney Co for infringement of copyright on “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” the most popular song to emerge from Africa, the lawyers said on Friday.
If Disney loses, South African proceeds from its trademarks — including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck — could be seized by the courts, lawyers representing relatives of the song’s composer said.
The lilting song, initially called “Mbube,” earned an estimated $15 million in royalties since it was written by Zulu migrant worker Solomon Linda in 1939, and featured in Walt Disney’s “Lion King” movies.
However, Linda’s impoverished family have only received about $15,000, the lawyers said.
Disney executives in South Africa were not immediately available for comment.
Linda sold the worldwide copyright for “Mbube” to a local firm, but under British laws in effect at the time, those rights should have reverted to his heirs 25 years after his death in 1962, copyright lawyer Owen Dean said.
This means Linda’s surviving three daughters and 10 grandchildren were entitled to a share of royalties from the song, which has since been recorded by at least 150 musicians.
“We are claiming ten million rand ($1.6 million) in damages from Disney at the moment,” Dean told reporters. “The court attached use of Disney trademarks in South Africa to the case last week. We believe our legal position is very sound.”
The court will issue a summons to Walt Disney in Los Angeles early next week.
If the case is successful, legal action may also be launched against Disney and other companies in the United Kingdom or Australia, where British copyright laws would have applied, Dean added.
It would also have widespread implications for other South African musicians, authors and artists who may have sold their rights without being aware of their entitlements. “The family are entitled to royalties. There has also been a misappropriation of South African culture — the song is thought to be American,” Dean said.
Linda’s grandson Zathele Madonsela, 16, told reporters the case was very important for his family, who live in poverty in the Johannesburg township of Soweto.
“Life is difficult, we are really struggling,” he said.
Executors of the family’s estate are also seeking a further 6 million rand damages from three local companies who have benefited from income either from the “Lion King” films or the song.
The Mbube song was adapted by U.S. folk singer Pete Seeger, who called it “Wimoweh” as he misheard its Zulu lyrics. U.S. songwriter George David Weiss rewrote the song as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

Jackson Paid $23 Million in 1990s Molest Case -Report
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop star Michael Jackson, who faces a trial on child molestation charges, paid more than $23 million to a boy and his family in the mid-1990s to settle similar accusations, Court TV reported on Tuesday.
Though it has long been reported that the 45-year-old singer paid millions of dollars to settle a civil lawsuit by the boy, Court TV said it had obtained a copy of the legal agreement and was making it public for the first time.
A spokeswoman for Jackson said she was trying to find out if the documents shown on camera by Court TV were “the actual agreement” in that case. She added the release of the information appeared aimed at influencing potential jurors against the entertainer.
“That settlement had a very strict confidentiality agreement that was negotiated by parties,” spokeswoman Raymone Bain said. “We are going to abide by that and not comment.”
She added: “Whoever released this agreement, whether it is the actual agreement or not, did it deliberately and willfully with the intent to influence potential jurors in the current case, which is outrageous and an act of desperation.”
The papers, which were signed by Jackson and his then-attorneys, Johnnie Cochran and Howard Weitzman, in January of 1994, show that Jackson agreed to set up a $15.3 million trust fund for the boy, as well as pay him a seven-figure lump sum.
According to the court documents, Jackson also agreed to pay the boy’s parents $1.5 million each and pay $5 million, plus expenses, to their attorney. Court TV said the moonwalking entertainer also had to pay his own lawyers an unspecified amount for their work on the case.
Jackson was indicted in April on a 10-count indictment that charges him with committing lewd acts on a boy under the age of 14 as well as child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.
He has pleaded innocent and his attorney, Thomas Mesereau, has vowed to vindicate Jackson at trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin in September.

PUSHED BACK
The battery trial of Rush founder and guitarist Alex Lifeson and his son delayed three months until Sept. 13. The trial was supposed to start Monday. Defense attorneys told the judge they needed more time to prepare.

Warner Music Settles with Madonna’s Maverick
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Warner Music has bought out Madonna’s stake in her Maverick Record label as part of a settlement in their lengthy legal dispute over the future of the 12-year-old joint venture, the company said on Monday.
Warner Music said in a statement on Monday it had also purchased the share held by Maverick Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Dashev and signed a new multiyear contract with Maverick A&R chief Guy Oseary.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed but Warner Music said it would have a majority stake in the venture. Maverick will continue to operate as a stand-alone label and would place greater emphasis on signing and developing artists, the statement said.
In March, Maverick filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Warner Music seeking $200 million in damages and an end to the venture which is home to acts like Michelle Branch and Alanis Morissette.
Madonna and her two partners had tried to sell her 60-percent stake in the label to Time Warner for a reported $60 million but talks apparently broke down over the asking price. Industry sources said Warner had ultimately paid Madonna significantly less than $60 million.
The dispute predated last November’s $2.6 billion purchase of Warner Music by a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Warner Music Group Chairman Lyor Cohen said the agreement was “clearly a win-win for both WMG and Maverick.”
Oseary called Madonna and Ronnie Dashev “my family. and I thank them not only for having helped build Maverick but also for having defined who I am today.”
Madonna releases her own records under a separate recording deal with Warner Bros. Records.