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Cameo Clips

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
April 27, 2007

Copyright Infringement/Res Judicata

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided that res judicata barred a copyright-infringement suit by relatives of the late Cab Calloway over his grandson's sale of audio and video recordings of the famous jazz entertainer. Creative Arts by Calloway LLC v. Brooks, 05-CV-8638 RO. Calloway's grandson Christopher Brooks founded and performs with The Cab Calloway Orchestra. Creative Arts by Calloway had previously sued Brooks in 2001 for service-mark infringement and dilution, unfair competition and unfair-business practices. Both the district court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with Brooks.

In the current case, the district court noted that the central issue was 'whether the claims asserted here 'were, or could have been, raised in the prior action' ' During discovery in the Prior Action, plaintiff's counsel received a letter dated March 26, 2001 explicitly referencing a CD and a videotape of defendant's music. Plaintiff concedes receiving this letter. I find that this letter was enough to put plaintiff on notice that defendant was making audio and video recordings of 'his act' and the resulting sales could have been discovered with due diligence.'

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