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CASES

2020-2029

Stories about claims of music copyright infringement appear fairly regularly in Variety and other mainstream publications. Few of these disputes go to trial, and fewer still generate published judicial opinions. Since the 1850s federal courts have published over 100 opinions dealing with this issue, but the frequency with which these cases arise has increased markedly over the past twenty years. We will, of course, add new cases to the web site as they surface. With this modestly proportioned body of information we have organized the cases chronologically by year.

List of Cases

Year	Country	Case Name	Court	Complaining Work	Defending Work	Complaining Author	Defending
2020	US	Estate of James Oscar Smith v. Cash Money Records	2d Cir.	Jimmy Smith Rap	Pound Cake	Jimmy Smith	Aubrey Drake Graham aka "Drake"
2020	US	Yeasayer v. Tesfaye	S.D.N.Y.	Sunrise	Pray for Me	Yeasayer, LLC	Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (“The Weeknd”); Kendrick Lamar Duckworth
2020	US	Michael Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin	9th Cir.	Taurus	Stairway to Heaven	Randy Wolfe	Jimmy Page
2020	US	Marcus Gray, et al. v. Katy Perry	C.D. Cal.	Joyful Noise	Dark Horse	Marcus Gray, et al.	Katy Perry, et al.
2020	US	[INPLAY] Armes v. Post	C.D. Cal.	Circles		Tyler Armes	Austin Post (aka "Post Malone")
2020	US	[INPLAY] Gordon v. Chambers	E.D.N.Y.	Yung Gordon Intro	Stoopid	Seth Gordon ("Yung Gordon")	Brytavious Chambers (“Tay Keith”); Daniel Hernandez (“Takashi 6ix9ine”)
2020	US	[INPLAY] Jackson v. Apple, Inc.	N.D. Cal.	Side Show		Darell Jackson	Apple, Inc., et al.
2020	US	[INPLAY] Griffin v. Sheeran, et al.	S.D.N.Y.	Let's Get It On	Thinking Out Loud	Marvin Gaye	Ed Sheeran
2020	US	[INPLAY] Basil v. AMC	C.D. Cal.	Mickey		Toni Basil
2020	US	New Day Worldwide v. Taylor Swift	C.D. Cal.	Haters gone Hate	Shake it Off	Jesse Graham	Taylor Swift
2020	US	[INPLAY] Stines v. Knowles, et. al.	C.D. Cal		Black Effect		The Carters
2020	US	Jackson ("50 Cent") v. Roberts	2d Cir.	In Da Club	Renzel Remixes	Curtis James Jackson ("50 Cent")	William Leonard Roberts II ("Rick Ross")
2020	US	[INPLAY] Hayes v. Lamar	C.D. Cal.		Loyalty	Terrance Hayes	Kendrick Lamar
2020	DE	[INPLAY] Hütter v. Pelha	Court of Justice of EU	Metall auf Metall	Nur mir	Kraftwerk	Sabrina Setlur
2020	US	Stone v. Grande	S.D.N.Y.	You Need It, I Got It	7 Rings	Josh Stone	Ariana Grande
2020	UK	Sheeran v. Chokri	[2020] EWHC 2806 (Ch) High Court of Justice, England and Wales, Chancery Div.	Oh Why	Shape of You	Sam Chokri	Ed Sheeran
2020	US	Structured Asset Sales v. Sheeran	S.D.N.Y.	Let's Get It On	Thinking Out Loud	Marvin Gaye	Ed Sheeran
2020	US	Norwood v. Quality Control Music, LLC	N.D. Ga.	Martian	How Did I Get Here ft. J. Cole	Barbara Norwood	Offset
2021	US	[INPLAY] Nwosuocha v. Glover, et al.	S.D.N.Y.	Made in America	This Is America	Emelike Nwosuocha	Donald Glover
2021	US	[INPLAY] Cooper, et al. v. Brown, et al.	S.D. Fla.	I Love Your Dress	No Guidance	Mr. Cooper	Chris Brown & Drake
2021	US	[INPLAY] Cates v. Shlemovitz, et al.	N.D.N.Y.	She Loves Her Job	FeBreze Tagline	Cameron Cates	Shlemovitz, et al.
2021	US	Johannsongs-Publishing Ltd. v. Lovland	9th Cir.	Söknuður	You Raised Me Up	Jóhann Helgason	Rolf Løvland
2021	US	AOM Music, Inc v. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (p/k/a Bad Bunny)	C.D. Cal.	Playero Works	Safaera	AOM Music, Inc	Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio p/k/a/ Bad Bunny
2022	US	Frisby v. Sony	9th Cir.	Shawty So Cold	Deja Vu; Exchange	G-Money	J. Cole; Bryson Tiller
2022	US	Quinn et al v. Powell et al [IN PLAY]	N.D. Ga.	Back N Forth	Living My Best Life	Darwin Quinn, Mitchelle’l Sium	Roland Powell p/k/a Lil' Duvall, Rich Broke Entertainment, LLC
2022	US	Cope v. Dua Lipa, et al.	E.D. La.	Live Your Life	Levitating	Artikal Sound	Dua Lipa
2022	US	[INPLAY] Ultra v. West	S.D.N.Y.	Move Your Body	Flowers	Marshall Jefferson	Kanye West
2022	US	Phase One Network v. Kanye West [InPlay]	S.D.N.Y.	South Bronx	Life of the Party	Lawrence Parker, Scott Sterling	Kanye West
2022	US	Moten v. Def Jam	N.D. Tex.	Unspecified Sermon	Come to Life	Bishop David Paul Moten	Kanye West
2022	US	Patrick v. Poree	N.D. Ga.	I Do What I Want		Yolanda Patrick	April Louise Poree
2022	US	Sound & Color v. Sam Smith	C.D. Cal.	Dancing with Strangers	Dancing with a Stranger	Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda	Sam Smith, Normani
2023	US	[INPLAY] Astley v. Hauri	Cal.Super.Ct., Los Angeles County	Never Gonna Give You Up	Betty (Get Money)	Rick Astley	Yung Gravy
2023	US	Stone v. Carey	C.D. Cal.	All I Want for Christmas is You	All I Want for Christmas is You	Andy Stone, AKA Vinnie Vance	Mariah Carey

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