Co-Author's Face Now A Whiter Shade of Pale?

The founder of Procol Harum won his court battle over royalty rights to the band's most famous hit, the 1967 song "A Whiter Shade of Pale."

A British appellate court ruled [decision] that although former keyboard player Matthew Fisher could be credited as co-author of the work (for writing the organ part), the fact that it took him 38 years to take the case to court meant he should not benefit financially. "Matthew Fisher is guilty of excessive and inexcusable delay in his claim to assert joint title to a joint interest in the work," Judge Mummery said in his judgment. "He silently stood by and acquiesced in the defendant's commercial exploitation of the work for 38 years."

Laches? Estoppel?

[Billboard article.]

4/7/08 UPDATE

The New York Times reports:

Mr. Fisher can still appeal the “Whiter Shade of Pale” decision to the House of Lords, which serves as Britain’s supreme court ... Even without a further appeal, though, the case isn’t over yet: Still to be settled is who must pay whose legal bills, which are reported to have mounted well into the millions of pounds on each side

Jay-Z + LiveNation

$150 million.

NYTimes "anarchy"

The Pirate Bay - Owe $2.5 Mil?

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry made a $2.5 million compensation claim Monday in a Swedish court, where the developers of The Pirate Bay (torrent-tracking site) have been indicted for copyright violations related to the sharing of 24 music albums, nine films and four videogames.

In response, Gottfried Svartholm Warg, one of four founders of The Pirate Bay, said Monday that "record companies can go screw themselves".

[Wired article]

The Tables Have Turned

Thanks to the Patry Copyright Blog for calling the following to our attention:

Sony BMG, ardent foe of music piracy, is in trouble for using pirated software.
The company is being sued by PointDev, a French software company that makes Windows administration tools, after an IT worker at Sony BMG called and supplied the company with a pirated license number for one of its products.

Isn't it ironic?

Muxtape

Our friends at Down By the Hipster pointed us to Muxtape, an "online mix tape website that recently launched and has quickly become the Tumblr for music. Now all you hipsters and wanna be DJ's can create an account, upload your songs, and send it along to your friends."

A quick look at the service makes it clear that some users are not uploading THEIR songs, but rather those of other artists. Is this authorized, and if not, of what consequence?

It's worth looking at Muxtape's limited terms of use, which simply state:

Muxtape is a service for creating mixtapes. Users may not upload songs from the same album or artist, or songs they do not have permission to let Muxtape use. Individual users may not create multiple muxtapes. Accounts not meeting these restrictions are subject to termination without notice. Muxtape will never reveal your email address to a third party. Muxtape is alive.

Certainly the the DMCA is relevant. Here is some analysis of whether Muxtape "on solid legal ground".

Death in the 216

Sean Levert (age 39), son of lead O'Jays singer Eddie Levert and a member of a hit-making trio with his late brother Gerald Levert, died after a medical emergency in Cuyahoga County jail. The singer was in jail after pleading guilty last week to six counts of nonsupport in cases dating back to 2005 and 2007 and children ages 11, 15 and 17.

Though not a typical OTCS post, our hometown instincts (Cleveland) just couldn't resist.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

(a) U2 + LiveNation = a 12-year global contractual relationship (including concert promotion, merchandising and the band’s website; album distribution and publishing will still be handled by Universal...for now).

(b) Amazon + Grand Theft Auto IV = gamers able to download music discovered via the game's 150 song soundtrack and play on portable devices.

Test Drive

When things go sour... a label rescinds its offer due to a single "peaking" and things go south.



Here, "Supafly" financed the artists Test Drive under a joint-venture agreement. However, the partners (defendants) tried to cut plaintiff-financier out of a major record deal by inking a side-deal. As a kicker, defendants allegedly never had an exclusive recording agreement with the artists, and therefore a likely breach of reps and warranties in the joint-venture agreement.

Supafly Entertainment, Inc. v. IM Music, Inc., No. 08-cv-60440-WJZ (S.D.Fla filed Mar. 27, 2008)