2:16-CV-2561 (C.D. Cal. 2016)
Complaining Work |
Defending Work |
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Bill Withers, et al. “Don’t You Want to Stay?”
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Kendrick Lamar, et al. “I Do This” |
Comment by Charles Cronin
This claim is unusual in that, if what the complaint asserts is correct, the defendants copied all the musical content, and associated sound recording, of the plaintiffs’ song and used it as musical background for original words of defendants’ rap number “I Do This”. The defendants’ song contains no explicit or implicit reference to the plaintiffs’ and, accordingly, it doesn’t appear that defendants’ appropriation of the plaintiffs’ expression could be defended by a claim of fair use. Not surprisingly, the parties settled this dispute about six months after the plaintiff filed his complaint.
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Complaint: PDF
Complaint Exhibit C: PDF
Complaint Exhibit D: PDF
Complaint Exhibit E: PDF