Lina Iris Viktor is suing Universal, Kendrick Lamar, SZA and others, over the “All The Stars” music video where she claims her paintings are shown. “Viktor alleges that a 19-second part of the Video infringes on her artwork by displaying, without a license, distinctive paintings of Viktor’s, which are based on ancient Egyptian and African symbolism and […]
On Monday, October 22nd, 2018, Tracy Chapman slapped Nicki Minaj with a copyright lawsuit. In her complaint, Chapman alleges that her song “Baby Can I Hold You” was sampled in Minaj’s song entitled “Sorry” without Chapman’s permission. Beginning in June 2018, Minaj and her representatives made multiple requests to license “Baby Can I Hold You,”
Kylie Jenner and her makeup company Kylie Cosmetics have both faced a number of lawsuits in the past few years, and the latest one comes from indie makeup company Sheree Cosmetics. Kylie Cosmetics recently launched a new line of products called “Born to Sparkle.” Sheree Cosmetics brings forth the claim that they already had a
In 2017, Andy Warhol’s estate filed a pre-emptive lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against famous photographer Lynn Goldsmith for the rights to Warhol’s Prince prints. Goldsmith filed a counterclaim for copyright infringement shortly after. This past week, both parties have filed motions for summary judgment in what has become a heated debate. The latest
At a ceremony in the Oval Office on Thursday, President Trump signed the Music Modernization Act into law. The Act represents a major reform of Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act. It received bipartisan support in Congress and has been widely praised by major record labels, streaming services, consumer groups and artists. Three provisions
The United States District Court for the Central District of California has granted summary judgment in a copyright case stemming from singer Gwen Stefani’s 2014 hit song “Spark the Fire.” The suit was brought by Stefani’s former hairdresser Richard Morrill. He alleged that he played Stefani a song called “Who’s Got My Lightah” while working
In 2016, Take-Two, a video game company that is the creator of the NBA 2K series of video games, was sued by Solid Oak Sketches, a company who owns the copyright in several NBA players’ tattoos. Solid Oak argued that the video game series, which seeks to simulate the NBA, infringed on their copyright because
Law360 reported a Texas rock band’s representatives, Platinum Jack Entertainment Inc., filed suit against Chick-Fil-A Inc. and ESPN Inc. in Texas federal court on Tuesday. The suit alleges that the pair of companies stole a song from Dallas rock band Drayter for in the background of two commercials the companies released featuring the well-known Chick-Fil-A
Last Friday, a California federal judge, Judge Fitzgerald, handed a win to Taylor Swift and her team when he dismissed a copyright suit against the singer with prejudice. This follows from a ruling in mid-February, where the judge granted a motion to dismiss for Swift’s team, but giving plaintiffs Sean Hall and Nathan Butler one chance to
On Tuesday, February 27, a 2-1 split Ninth Circuit panel rejected a copyright suit against Nike Inc. alleging the athletic company’s “Jumpman” logo infringed on a photographer’s copyright. The court ruled that the logo was not substantially similar enough to Jacobus Rentmeester’s photo of Jordan from a 1984 issue of LIFE magazine. Rentmeester originally had
In the most recent litigation battle between powerhouses Disney and Redbox, Redbox triumphed as a federal court judge rejected Disney’s request for an injunction. In its initial lawsuit filed in December, Disney alleged that Redbox was in violation of their contract and of Disney’s copyrights due to its sale of download codes for Disney movies.
