"Entertainment Industry's Legal Liabilities"

This blog is about legal controversies in the entertainment industry, and how important it is in this business to have intellectual properties, to prevent you from legal issues in the long run. I’ve done a lot of research about legal controversies in the entertainment industry in the past year, and what I came across was unbelievable. I am going to elaborate on three legal controversies that I feel should’ve been prevented from happening if these individuals knew how important it is when it comes to intellectual property.

The first legal controversy that I would like to talk about is the copyright infringement lawsuit that the legendary Hip Hop group, Beastie Boys filed against Monster Energy Beverage. The reason why the Beastie Boys filed a lawsuit against Monster Energy Beverage was because the beverage company used their music in a promotional video on their website. After reading an article about the lawsuit, it seems that an employee inadvertently believed that Monster Energy Beverage had permission to use the music. What was also said was that the beverage company had Beastie Boys songs for download on the company’s website.

An award-winning global DJ, DJ Z-Trip had played a few of Beastie Boys songs on his live set at the Monster-sponsored Canadian festival Ruckus in the Rockies; which is where Monster Energy Beverage had taken the songs from the DJ’s footage from the festival. This festival was a few days after the Beastie Boy’s former MC the late Adam “MCA” Yauch had passed away; and it is said that in Adam “MCA” Yauch’s will that no company is allowed to use the group’s music for advertisement. A Monster employee sent a copy of the promotional video to DJ Z-Trip using his Beastie Boys Megamix; after watching the video DJ Z-Trip replied back that the video was “Dope!” and just from DJ Z-Trip’s reply the employee assumed that it was fine to use the Megamix for the promotional video.

My opinion about this legal controversy is that the employee who took the initiative to use DJ Z-Trip’s Megamix of the Beastie Boys’ songs should be or should’ve been terminated. There is no way that any promotional video should’ve been posted without it being approved by the managers and executives over top of that employee; or with that employee having the position of authority that they have, they should’ve known that in order to use the Beastie Boys’ music, it should have been cleared by whatever copyrights organization their music is under. It cost Monster Energy Beverage $1.7 million, because of a mistake that one of their employees made, which I feel could’ve been prevented.

The second legal controversy that I would like to talk about is rapper Kendrick Lamar being sued for infringing music copyrights in his song “Rigamortus”. Eric S. Reed, who is a composer, musician, and recording artist is suing Kendrick Lamar, because he says that Kendrick Lamar copied music from a song that he composed in 2009 called “The Thorn” which he did for Willie Jones III’s 2010 recording “The Next Phase”. Eric Reed claims that he never gave Kendrick Lamar permission to use his music, in which Kendrick Lamar did in numerous versions and remixes of his single “Rigamortus”.

My opinion on this matter is Kendrick Lamar’s manager or producer should have made sure that before the instrumental was given or presented to Kendrick Lamar that there were no samples from other artists or composers in the instrumental, especially if they were not cleared to be used. This would’ve definitely avoided this lawsuit for copyright infringement. You would think artists, managers, or producers would know better than that. In the article that I read about this lawsuit, it says that, “The plaintiffs seek at least $1,000,000 in damages and full disgorgement of Defendants’ profits from the infringement. In addition to seeking an injunction, Plaintiffs demand payment of all their attorneys’ fees and costs (Keshishian, 2014).” It’s amazing how small problems in this industry can become a huge problem.

The last legal controversy I will end with is Pharrell Williams and Will.i.am trademark lawsuit, which they both professionally decided to settle it out of court. The reason why there was a lawsuit between the two was because Pharrell Williams wanted to trademark what he says is his “creative venture and way of life” I Am Other; but Will.i.am didn’t like Pharrell’s decision and chose to file a lawsuit, because he felt people would confuse Pharrell’s company with his company, I.AM.Symbolic. Pharrell wanted to settle this whole misunderstanding out of court, because he tried to tell Will.i.am that what his company stood for was totally different from what Will.i.am’s company stood for; but that wasn’t good enough for Wil.i.am. Will.i.am even going as far as saying that Pharrell did not respect intellectual property, because of other problems Pharrell has had with other artists and companies who have filed lawsuits against him. It was said that the two has decided to settle out of court, which could be great for them and the music industry.

My opinion about this lawsuit is there should have never been one in the first place. Will.i.am does not own “I Am” and I’m sure he knew that Pharrell’s “I Am Other” has nothing to do with whatever Will.i.am’s movement is all about. There are so many individuals in the entertainment industry, as well as companies that use “I Am” to express what they are trying to get across when they are promoting, marketing, and advertising a product, brand, or even themselves. Some artists really believe that, because of their status or role in the entertainment industry that they can do or say whatever they want; and I think that they should be careful, because depending on the situation it could lower their status.

King George