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Copyrightable Karaoke Tracks Not Protected By Trademark Act

By Judith L. Grubner

Slep-Tone Entertainment Corporation and its successor in interest, Phoenix Entertainment Partners, filed more than 150 Lanham Act suits throughout the country. The suits alleged that defendants had committed trademark infringement by making unauthorized copies and performing commercial karaoke files containing Slep-Tone's registered trademark “Sound Choice” and graphically displayed trade dress. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of one of those suits, brought in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois against Basket Case Pub and its president and sole owner, Dannette Rumsey, because the karaoke tracks were not “tangible goods” that the pub had sold in the marketplace as a Slep-Tone product. Phoenix Entertainment Partners, LLC v. Rumsey, __ F.3d __ (7th Cir. 2016).

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