3 Count: Damn… Girl?

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1: Justin Timberlake and Will.I.Am Being Sued for Copyright Infringement Over Song ‘Damn Girl’

First off today, Naja Rayne at People Magazine reports that Justin Timberlake and Will.I.Am have been sued by PK Music Performance Group for alleged copyright infringement.

According to the lawsuit, Timberlake and Will.I.Am’s song Damn Girl is a close imitation of the 1969 song A New Day is Here at Last, which was written and copyrighted by Perry Kibble and performed by J.D. Davis.

Calling it one of the most recognizable songs from the disco era, PK Music Performance Group claims that they are now the rightsholders to the song following a deal with Kibble’s sister following his death. The lawsuit claims that “substantial” portions of Here at Last are in Damn Girl including drum, conga drum, organ, bass guitar, electric quitter and saxophone parts.

2: Spotify Responds to David Lowery’s Mechanicals Lawsuit

Next up today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that Spotify has filed a response to David Lowery’s lawsuit over allegedly unpaid mechanical royalties. However, the response doesn’t address the allegations in the lawsuit, instead solely challenging the proposed class action status for the case.

Lowery sued Spotify alleging that the streaming music service has failed to pay or properly complete formalities associated with mechanical royalties, the royalties paid to songwriters for the sale or on-demand streaming of a song. Though mechanical royalties are governed under a compulsory license, meaning Spotify doesn’t need permission, Lowery claims that Spotify has failed to complete formalities required under the law, such as notifying songwriters of the use, and that the royalties have gone unpaid.

Spotify claims that the issue is poor data that makes it difficult to tell who is the rightsholder to a particular song. They claim to have set aside money to pay unpaid royalties. However, those were not the arguments at the front and center of Spotify’s response, which attempted to challenge Lowery’s petition to have the lawsuit become a class action case, which could potentially bring in thousands of other artists if it’s allowed to move ahead.

3: ​Village Roadshow Launches Legal Action to Block Piracy-Related Website in Australia

Finally today, Will Ockenden at ABC News in Australia reports that local media company Village Roadshow has filed a lawsuit asking for the blocking of the site SolarMovie.ph, a popular pirate movie and TV streaming site.

The move represents the first time new site blocking legislation has been tested in Australia. Originally passed in mid-2015, the law enables rightsholders to seek a court order that will require local ISPs to block access to infringing websites. However, the law has not been tested or used because rightsholders have been engaged in meetings with ISPs to sort out implementation.

With those issues seemingly resolved, Village Roadshow has filed the first case to use to it and is expected to be closely followed by another local company, Foxtel, which will seek the blocking of The Pirate Bay.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.