3.1 Million Defamation Suit Against Singer: Legal Case Study

The (Plaintiff) Johnny Singstealer is seeking the sum of $1 million from the (Defendant) Bobby Bandleader, for alleged copyright abuse of the song “Happy Birthday to You”. The (Plaintiff) Johnny Singstealer is the copyright holder to the said song. The (Defendant) Bobby Bandleader is a Bistro owner who performs the song in an altered version (his own words are used) to his customers on their birthdays and have been doing so for the past twenty years without obtaining any licensing or permission from the copyright holder (Plaintiff) Johnny Singstealer.

The deadline for this came expired in January 2016 and they made it just before the 12-year mark expired. In mid-December, Bill Cosby had his lawyers file a lawsuit countersuing Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis, and Angela Leslie. The lawsuit accuses the women of “malicious, opportunistic, false, and defamatory” claims of drugging them and taking sexual advantage of them.

It’s no new news, but almost close to an every month fashion entertaining trend of entertaining ourselves with the business of wanting to hear about the rapper who has been sued of recent. Who doesn't want to have a treat of the taste?

According to the New York Time article, Major Record Labels Settle Suit With LimeWire written by Ben Sisario, the settlement for this suit was $105 million which was far from the $1.4 billion the labels had sought as a maximum penalty. This article also explains that the companies are hoping that the case will act as a deterrent (2). The damage LimeWire created negatively affected the artist community.

Andrea, I am a fan of CCR too. I also found this plagiarism case strange. John Fogerty was sued for plagiarizing a song from CCR which was basically plagiarizing himself. I realize he had signed over his publishing rights to Saul Zaentz who was the head of Fantasy Records in order to get out of his contract when CCR broke up, but I'm glad that he did win the case because I think that it is unrealistic to say that someone else could own his style of composing music. I believe the defamation charge against Fogerty was due to a libelous song that he wrote and recorded supposedly about Saul Zaentz because of this case that was called 'Zanz Kant Danz'. Afterward, Fogarty changed the name of the song to 'Vanz Kant

In the complaint, Plaintiffs expressly denied these allegations, stating that they neither incorporated, nor used any elements from “Got to Give It Up.” Compl. 5:2-4. Furthermore, they pointed out that “sounding like” another song does not meet the prima facie case for copyright infringement. Compl. 2:9-10.

Is important for anyone who has created any intellectual property to protect it. In the music industry, in order for someone to protect their work, they must obtain a copyright. Music has been around before anyone could obtain a copyright and when the invention of the computer came along it made it easier for someone to steal another artist's intellectual property with the help of the internet. This paper will cover what events have taken a big role in copyright protection for artist, the consequences if someone was to break the rules of a copyright which is called copyright infringement, and how will a copyright hold in the future. Were copyrights enacted without the thought of life changing technology, and how can some music companies

Vanilla Ice willfully sampled “Under Pressure” without their permission, which is a direct offense of copyright law. This type of infringement is equatable to stealing property (Moser & Slay, 2014). After a stern confrontation from the collective legal team, Vanilla Ice’s initial defense was incredibly weak: author J. Runtagh, for the Rolling Stone, states his defense makes this one of the most “hilarious” copyright cases ever. One could argue that a more appropriate course of action would be to take Vanilla Ice to court and have him formally charged with copyright infringement, as well as not allowing him to purchase all the publishing rights. Vanilla Ice’s nonchalant attitude toward the infringement lends one to believe he does not understand or care about his actions. Moreover, allowing David Bowie and Queen to keep their share of songwriting royalties and publishing royalties serves more appropriately as a settlement due to the fact that it allows for income to be pursued as long as the rights are

The commercialization of hip hop has led to many changes in not just the genre of music but in the culture of marketing and youths around the states in addition to the rest of the world. But is this commercialization trend truly a bad for hip hop as an art. The music industry has always affected multiple aspects of life and know these hip hop and rap artist are capitalizing on the many endorsement that come with the uptrend of hip hop’s popularity around the world. Sarah Paolantonio’s. “Reasonable Doubt: Marketing Big Hip Hop." She states “it’s hard to imagine the world of exclusivity and pay-to-play that Jay is instituting. Instead of fighting the powers that be, Jay is working with them: giving Samsung money, advertisements and synergy with (one of if not) the biggest name in music.” (par.11) I disagree with her statement I believe that it is the artist right to be able to innovate new ways to earn more from their art because how they influence the market of product sales and other markets.

While some music artist are monsters such as Jon Lajoie there are also many artist who still have good morals, such as, Katy perry, Katy shows this in her song “Firework”, when she talks about being the best that you can be, never giving up, and that everything happens for a reason. Early in the song Katy mentions, “Do you know that there’s still a chance for you ‘cause there’s a spark in you”. Katy is saying that you should never give up because you never know what could happen and that everyone has potential. Later in the song, Katy says, You don’t have to feel like a waste of space you’re original, cannot be replaced If you only knew what the future holds After a hurricane comes a rainbow”. What Katy means, is that everyone was put on earth for a reason and no one should ever feel like they are useless because everyone is unique. She is also saying that even if things aren't going well now the future is bright and don’t give up. Towards the end of the song, Katy mentions, Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed so you could open one that leads to the perfect one.” Katy is again stressing the fact that everything happens for a reason and to not get discouraged when one thing doesn’t go right because their will be plenty more opportunities leading to a better life. Altogether because Katy sing about being the best that you can be, never giving up, and that

In this essay, you will read about an artist in the name of Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known professionally as Vanilla Ice who became famous for a while, not because of his talent, but because of the copyright of someone else baseline. He thought changing the rhythm of David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” baseline and not giving him credit would avoid him from any questions. In this essay I will provide you my opinion of Vanilla Ice’s song “Ice, Ice, Baby”as an example of plagiarism, with evidence provided of what he did wrong, and what he could have caused.

For years, music artists have been blamed for violent acts that people have associated with their songs. These genres are the most attacked because of the

Music Copyright is a very important aspect of the music industry. The Copyright law was established to preserve the creativity and rights of authors, composers, performers of expression. Copyright is the law that protects the property rights of the creator of an original work in a fixed tangible medium. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/copyright) A fixed tangible medium is something substantial like copying lyrics on paper or putting a song on tape or CD. Copyright can be seen every where in the music industry. Many music artist of our culture today have been involved in copyright issues. Recently, on MTV news it was stated that, "As the music industry becomes increasingly concerned about protecting the

As far as my knowledge is concerned, this RAP doesn’t contain any plagiarism and being an accountant, all ethical standards has been taken into account before doing any work. All data needed have been collected from reliable resources and Harvard referencing has also been used. No alterations of facts and figures have been done to avoid any misrepresentations

As social media becomes a heavy influence in our online presence, certain elements need to be policed, as laws can still be broken. This is an insight into if social media, more specifically social networking sites, can be regulated to avoid recent spates of ‘trolling’ or whether it only serves to strip people of freedom to speech.