Lawsuits and Liabilities

Copyright infringement can easily become a huge issue in the entertainment industry. In particular, music videos can cause a lot of controversy because they technically combine two industries, film and music. The majority of lawsuits arise when an artist infringes specifically on the music. This in turn can affect the arrival and popularity of the artist’s music video. Other lawsuits can arise when the artist infringes on the actual content being portrayed throughout the music video. This type of infringement strictly affects the music video itself where as the song remains untouched. Currently there are several lawsuits involving copyright infringement within the music video industry, but first I want to mention some famous instances where infringement has shaped the music industry. 

Famously there have been many lawsuits dealing with copyright infringement within the music industry. For example, Vanilla Ice versus Queen and David Bowie, Johnny Cash versus Gordon Jenkins, and Michael Bolton versus the Isley Brothers. These famous examples question the music being plagiarized, not the video content. The most famous of these is Vanilla Ice versus Queen and David Bowie. The rapper sampled Queen and Bowie’s, Under Pressure without consent or license. The sampled piece of work, Ice Ice Baby, ended up hitting number one with only a slightly altered rhythm. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. This particular lawsuit greatly effected Vanilla Ice’s career and hindered the future of his hit, Ice Ice Baby. Since the settlement the original song has been made into many different versions, none of which sound like the original.

More recently the rap group, Beastie Boys, have been sued for alleged copyright infringement. The Beastie Boys, a group very familiar with copyright lawsuits, were recently sued for using two songs by the band, Trouble Funk, without permission. Apparently the song Shadrach by the Beastie Boys samples work from Trouble Funk’s, Say What. Tuf America, the company representing Trouble Funk filed the lawsuit a day before the death of Adam Yauch aka “MCA” of the Beastie Boys. The company is suing for copyright infringement, unjust enrichment and misappropriation. They are seeking punitive damages and a permanent injunction forbidding the rap group from selling tracks with Trouble Funk samples. Hopefully the lawsuit will be able to reach a settlement before heading to court. The Beastie Boys have been through enough this past year.

Touching more on the video content side, recently there has been one instance of copyright infringement that has made headlines due to its controversial content. In 2011, photographer David LaChapelle sued pop star Rihanna, Def Jam Records, and Black Dog Films for copyright infringement. LaChapelle claimed Rihanna copied the photographer’s work for her music video S&M. The photographer found Rihanna’s video to be very similar in theme and style to his past photo shoot for Vogue Italia. Specifically LaChapelle alleged, “the clip's director Melina Matsoukas was instructed to create a ‘LaChapelle-esque music video’ and that prints of his photographs were used in creating storyboards for the production.” He sued for 1 million dollars and a settlement was reached in October of 2011. The use of artistic vision is all very gray especially when dealing with copyright infringement.

Striped Farce by David LaChapelle, 1995