On Thursday 15 July 2021, Sony Music Entertainment (Sony Music) filed a copyright infringement suit against Gymshark over the use of its allegedly infringing sound recording and musical compositions through its social media advertisements. In the suit filed with the United States District Court of California, Sony Music claims that the gym clothing giant that is valued at an impressive $1.4 billion, deliberately abjured traditional advertising and marketing routes and has instead targeted social media websites to promote its products with the use of allegedly infringing sound recordings. The s ..read more

Isleworth based reggae record label Greensleeves Publishing Ltd is suing American singer/ rapper Chris Brown and multinational music producer Sony Music Entertainment for $1.5m, in a copyright infringement dispute. In the suit filed in the United States District Court, New York earlier this week, Greensleeves Publishing claimed that singer Chris Brown and Sony Music Entertainment have infringed Jamaican dancehall reggae recording and performing artist, Red Rat’s ‘Tight Up Skirt’ top hit following the release of Chris Brown’s 2017 song ‘Privacy’. In the complaint, Greensleeves’ lawyers allege t ..read more

Non-Fungible Tokens, [NFTs for short], are the cryptocurrency used within the media and artwork world. Each NFT is individual and unique, meaning that no files can be copied or repeated, which aids in increasing the value of the digital assets. Pittsburgh-born billionaire, Mark Cuban, is the latest mogul to get involved in the NFT world and has done so quickly and confidently. Cuban is best known for his role as a ‘shark’ on American Entrepreneurship programme; ‘Shark Tank’, as well as for his ownership of the National Basketball Association Dallas Mavericks team. His estimated net worth is a ..read more

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine is being sued for alleged copyright infringement on his 2020 release – ‘GOOBA’. It is not the first time 6ix9ine has been accused of stealing ‘GOOBA’s’ beat either. In June 2020, Kenyan producer Magix Enga claimed that the track unlawfully used one of his beats. The song was unavailable on YouTube for a number of hours as a result, with the message: “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Magix Enga” appearing on screen. After serving 17 months of his 24 month sentence for racketeering charges, 6ix9ine was released from prison in April 2020 due to ..read more

Police Officers in Beverly Hills have been accused of playing songs by the likes of the Beatles and Sublime in hope of triggering copyright filters to prohibit videos of them being published to social media. Activist Sennett Devermont, based in Los Angeles, claims that in videos captured from January and February of this year, police officers began playing songs on their phones including ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Santeria’ by The Beatles and Sublime respectively when approached with a camera. Although it is unclear the true intention behind these actions, they are not isolated instances with multiple s ..read more

On Monday 8th February, country music star Dwight Yoakam filed a law suit in the Californian federal court against Warner Music Group, pursuing copyright termination enabling him to reclaim rights to his work. Yoakams claims of copyright termination are per Section 203 of the US Copyright Act, providing authors of works to regain rights after a period of 35 years. Claims under this section are generally followed by invitations to renegotiate royalty rates; Rhino, a Warner subsidiary, followed Yoakams initial claims by offering negotiation, however, failed to provide a definitive answer as to ..read more

Music Vine, a Leeds-based startup company, have launched a new service Uppbeat, aiming to provide users with ‘free, quality music that guarantees no copyright issues’. Music Vine, co-founded by Lewis Foster and Matt Russell, was originally launched to assist professional filmmakers in navigating music licensing. Uppbeat aims to provide a slightly different service, removing barriers to high-quality music to enable content creators, including YouTubers and podcasters, to avoid copyright claims without the need for ‘pricey music license subscriptions’ or use of ‘uninspiring’ pre-existing free mu ..read more

Professional Copyright & Royalty Administrator, Cheryl Potts, has launched a new automated music business platform, Cleerkut Royalty, as a digital solution encompassing all the tools and licensing information to aid a variety of professionals in the music industry in navigating royalty processes and music rights. Originally launched to aid founder Potts in her own music copyright business, Cleerkut Royalty has reinvented itself as a centralised software platform after Potts identified there to be a huge gap in the market. Cleerkut Royalty now aims to help record labels, music publishers, i ..read more

Musicians King Khan and Saba Lou have initiated a copyright infringement lawsuit against Rihanna, claiming the singer used one of their songs, ‘Good Habits (and Bad)’, in a social media post without their permission. The song in question, released in 2012, was dubbed over a video used in an Instagram post, promoting accessories from her brand Fenty Beauty, founded in 2017, which has since been viewed over 3.4 million times. King and Lou claim that Rihanna’s team had likely taken it straight from a streaming platform and consequently used it without seeking their legal permission or blessing. A ..read more

Following more than a two year long dispute over Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit ‘Baby Can I Hold You’, rapper Nicki Minaj has offered singer Tracy Chapman an apology worth $450,000 (£332,000). The copyright infringement suit which arose in 2018, detailed how four-time Grammy winner Tracy Chapman refused a number of requests made by Nicki Minaj to sample ‘Baby Can I Hold You’ and whilst the rapper’s song was never ‘officially’ released, it had leaked and been played on the radio by DJ Funkmaster Flex and thereafter went viral online. In an earlier judgement, it was confirmed that Minaj’s use of Chapm ..read more