Bit Parts

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington found a music licensing firm could proceed with its breach of contract claim over use of two songs in videos made by Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. Lepona Inc. v. Cruz for President, C16-0658RSM. Co-defendant Madison McQueen, an ad agency, obtained licensing agreements on the Cruz campaign's behalf from plaintiff Audiosocket for a song by co-plaintiff Sarah Schachner and for one by co-plaintiff Brad Couture. But the agreements prohibited the use of the two songs for “political purposes (including, but not limited to, supporting or opposing any government policy, government official, political action, or candidate for political office).” The defendants nevertheless used each song as the soundtrack for campaign ad videos. Audiosocket doesn't own or have exclusive rights to license the songs, but Madison McQueen and the Cruz campaign argued Audiosocket's contract claim was preempted by the songwriters' copyright infringement claims. Chief District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez noted: “The Ninth Circuit has found in other licensing agreement actions that preemption does not apply.” Chief Judge Martinez concluded on the defendants' motion to dismiss: “Audiosocket seeks to hold Defendants liable for alleged breaches of their Licensing Agreements, specifically the use of the musical compositions for political purposes and cable television ads, both of which were prohibited by the Agreements. ' [T]he Court is not convinced that such claims are preempted by the Copyright Act.”

Music-Related Movie with Same Title as Band Doesn't Infringe Band's Trademark

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided that a music-related movie titled Loisaidas, about a drug turf battle, didn't infringe on the federal trademarks for the Latin band “Loisaidas.” Medina v. Dash Films Inc., 15-cv-2551. Plaintiff Michael Medina, who owns the band trademark, claimed in this lawsuit that included Damon Dash and Kanye West as defendants, that the movie was really a collection of music videos. Southern District Judge Katherine B. Forrest observed: “Although most of the [defendants'] work features either voice-over prose narration or characters addressing one another without breaking the fourth wall to acknowledge the camera, there are three times in the eight clips [in the movie] in which a character raps to the camera in a style more familiar to music videos than films.” But District Judge Forrest also noted that during the movie the word “Loisaidas,” slang for “lower east siders,” “is spoken or appears a handful of times; it is almost always obviously used as the name of a place, rather than as the name of a group of people.” In addition, the film contained no depiction of a band named “Loisaidas.” Judge Forrest concluded that the film's title was protected by the First Amendment because it was “artistically relevant to its content and not explicitly misleading as to any association with plaintiff's music duo.”

No Trademark or Trade Dress Violations Seen in Copying Karaoke Products