Legal
Ex-Member of The Rascals Can’t Stop Bandmates From Using Name, Judge Rules
An ex-member of the classic rock band The Rascals cannot block his former bandmates from using the name for a reunion tour, a Manhattan federal judge has ruled. Eddie Brigati accused two of his former bandmates of breaching contracts and infringing trademarks by using the “Rascals” name as part of a 2018 tour, but U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl dismissed those accusations in a ruling on Thursday. The judge cited a number of different reasons for why Brigati’s claims were legally flawed, most notably that Brigati – who left the band way back in 1970 — had long ago legally “abandoned” his interest in the “Rascals” trademark through decades of disuse. “Brigati has failed to show that he performed even one time under any version of The Rascals name between 1970 and 2012,” Judge Koeltl wrot...
Quavo Sued for Allegedly ‘Unprovoked’ Beating of Limo Driver in Las Vegas
A new lawsuit claims that Migos rapper Quavo and several associates assaulted a limo driver outside Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, and that hotel security simply stood by and watched. In a complaint filed earlier in December in Nevada state court, a man named Terrill R. Cowans alleges Quavo and others attacked him “unprovoked” after they mistakenly believed he’d left a different member of the group behind at a club on July 3. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “When plaintiff responded, the Migos artists and affiliates told plaintiff to ‘shut the f–k up,’ and one of the Migos artists threw a bottle at plaintiff,” attorneys for Cowans wrote in the lawsuit obtained by Billboard. “Plaintiff was then attacked by three to five Migos artists and/or affiliates...
President Bukele fires back at critics on ‘Bitcoin experiment’
On Thursday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele reaffirmed his belief for Bitcoin (BTC) supremacy on Twitter once again, this time stating that after widespread adoption occurs, “it’s game over for fiat.” The Salvadoran president has been a mainstay in news headlines due to his government’s regular BTC purchases and absolute pro-Bitcoin stance. He has made frequent statements and comments to support the original cryptocurrency while refusing to budge in the face of criticism that Bitcoin is a bad idea for the nation. Related: El Salvador buys a smokin’ hot 420 more Bitcoin President Bukele’s recent tweet comes as the international community launches a barrage against El Salvador for its “Bitcoin experiment.” The International Monetary Fund criticized El Salvador’s move t...
Nirvana Fires Back In ‘Nevermind’ Naked Baby Lawsuit, Says Case Was Filed Too Late
Nirvana is firing back at a recent lawsuit that claims the band violated child pornography laws with the iconic image of a nude baby on the cover of Nevermind, blasting the case as “not serious” and saying it was filed years too late. The lawsuit made headlines in August when it was filed by Spencer Elden, the now-30-year-old man who appeared in the image as a baby. He claims that the 1991 album cover — one of the most famous in rock and roll history — amounted to “commercial sexual exploitation” of a minor. In the band’s first formal response to the lawsuit, Nirvana said Wednesday that Elden’s case has a fatal-flaw: It was filed years after the statute of limitations had run out, by a man who had long embraced the image. “Elden has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the s...
Eric Clapton ‘Does Not Intend’ to Collect Money from German Widow in Bootleg CD Case
A German woman has been ordered to pay nearly $4,000 for attempting to sell a bootleg Eric Clapton CD on eBay, according to a report on the German website DW. But after facing widespread condemnation online, Clapton’s management team now says the musician won’t be pursuing what he’s owed. The 55-year-old woman, identified in court documents as Gabriele P., claims she inherited the bootleg CD Eric Clapton – Live USA from the estate of her late husband, who purchased it at a department store in 1987. But after listing it for sale on eBay for €9.95 ($11.27), lawyers for Clapton issued an affidavit in Düsseldorf regional court stating the CD was illegal. The court eventually issued an injunction barring the woman from selling the CD online and ordering her to pay €3,400 ($3,852) in legal fees ...
5 Seconds of Summer Hit with $2.5M Breach of Contract Suit by Former Management Firm
5 Seconds of Summer’s former management company, YM&U Group, is suing the Australian pop-rock band for breach of contract, according to court documents reviewed by Billboard. Filed in California Superior Court on Dec. 17 by YM&U attorneys Howard King and Stephen Rothschild of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, the complaint alleges that 5SOS – with the encouragement of their current manager, Benjamin Evans – has refused to pay YM&U commissions the firm is owed for multiple lucrative deals it negotiated on behalf of the group, including a $10 million single-album recording contract with BMG and a $1.5 million merchandising extension with Bravado International Group. Evans is named as a defendant in the lawsuit alongside 5 Seconds of Summer members Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, As...
Four Tet Gets Green Light From U.K. Judge to Proceed With Lawsuit Against Domino
Domino Recordings probably didn’t expect such a domino effect. Pat Treacy, Deputy Judge at the U.K. Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, has reportedly ruled that Four Tet‘s breach of contract suit against Domino will be able to proceed. The full trial is set to take place towards the beginning of 2022. Earlier this summer Four Tet sued Domino for a breach of contract, alleging the label had not paid out their agreed-upon streaming royalty rate of 50%. The label fired back and pointed to a separate clause in their contract, which was signed in 2001, that states they’re only obliged to pay 75% of their standard 18%: “In respect of records sold in new technology formats other than vinyl, Compact Discs and analogue tape cassettes the royalty rate...
Judge Recommends Russian Stream-Ripping Sites Pay $82.9M in Damages
A federal judge has recommended that the operators of two Russian stream-ripping websites pay more than $80 million in damages for circumventing YouTube’s anti-piracy measures and infringing copyrights of audio recordings. In a case brought by more than a dozen record labels, including UMG Recordings, Warner Records and Sony Music Entertainment, U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan said the sites operated by Tofig Kurbanov, a Russian national, should be shut down permanently via injunctions and that statutory damages of $50,000 be awarded for each of the 1,618 copyrighted works the sites infringed. Kurbanov operates www.FLVTO.biz and www.2conv.com, which the Fourth Circuit has previously recognized as “two of the most popular stream-ripping websites in the world and…among the most popula...
Austria Poised to Loosen Online Copyright Restrictions — Will Other EU Countries Follow?
BERLIN — A spectre is haunting the European music business: The 2019 European Union Copyright Directive, intended to give creators and rightsholders more power to control the use of their content on online platforms, could instead create another set of problems. One of the pillars of the Copyright Directive was a provision that would hold online platforms responsible for unlicensed copyrighted material uploaded by users. In May, however, Germany passed a law implementing the directive with an exception that classified clips of under 15 seconds shared on online platforms like YouTube as “minor use,” presumptively allowing the use of the material without a license unless copyright holders specifically objected. Although the German law is contrary to both the text and the intention of t...
Flavor Flav Domestic Battery Charge Dismissed
Attorneys for entertainer Flavor Flav said Wednesday (Dec. 8) he’s working to stay sober following dismissal of a misdemeanor domestic battery charge stemming from a scuffle with his girlfriend at home in suburban Las Vegas. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The 62-year-old former rapper, hip-hop and reality TV star, whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr., pleaded no contest in Henderson Municipal Court to a nonviolent misdemeanor coercion charge, admitted he took a cellphone, and paid $640 in fines, a court official and his defense attorneys said. “Mr. Drayton and his family are grateful to bring an amicable close to this matter and appreciate everyone’s support as he continues his one-year journey of sobriety,” defense attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld sai...
Troubled Music Festival Hit With Lawsuit, Claiming Fyre Fest–Like Conditions
Disgruntled concertgoers filed a class action Tuesday on behalf of thousands of people who attended the Elements Music and Arts Festival in September, a troubled EDM festival that has drawn comparisons to the infamous Fyre Festival. Held on Labor Day weekend, the Elements festival drew thousands of fans to rural Pennsylvania with a lineup that featured EDM stalwarts like Diplo, CloZee and Griz. But in the days after, fans flooded social media with complaints of muddy conditions, shoddy staffing, little water and 10-hour waits to enter. In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court that echoed those complaints, three Elements attendees accused the event’s organizers of gross negligence, deceptive business practices and other wrongdoing over an “understaffed, disorganized, and unsanitary f...
Astroworld Lawsuits — Nearly 300 & Counting — Will Be Combined Into Single Giant Case
The hundreds of lawsuits filed over the deadly Astroworld music festival will be consolidated into one enormous case, according to a court filing made public Friday (Dec. 3), signaling the start of the next major phase in the sprawling litigation. Four weeks after a crowd surge during Travis Scott’s Nov. 5 performance left 10 dead and hundreds injured, attorneys for both victims and festival organizers filed a joint petition Friday seeking to combine the cases – 275 and counting — into a so-called multi-district litigation before a single judge. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The two sides reached the agreement because they said such a consolidated proceeding was the best way to handle an enormous, complex legal battle that already involves 1,250 plaintiffs. “This type of litig...
