3 Count: Two Lawsuits, Two Awards

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1: Rackboy Cam Awarded $1.7 Million in Copyright Infringement Case Over YFN Lucci and PnB Rock’s “Everyday We Lit”

First off today, Joe Price at Complex reports that the New Jersey rapper Rackboy Cam has won a $1.7 million judgment against TFN Lucci, PnB Rock and producer June James over the song Everyday We Lit.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 and accused the three artists of copyright infringement of his earlier song Everything Be Lit. A deal was reached with YFN Lucci in the case, which removed him as a defendant, but now a judgment has been handed down against the remaining two that seems the liable for over $1.4 million in damages as well as some $268,000 in prejudgment interest.

It is unclear if PnB Rock or June James have any plan to appeal the ruling. Rackboy Cam said that he is grateful for the outcome and is thankful that the case is behind him.

2: Pex Asks Copyright Office for a DMCA Exemption to Find Pirated Content

Next up today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that the digital rights management company Pex is making a somewhat unusual request with the U.S. Copyright Office as it asks for a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention exemption so that it can work to go after suspected piracy.

The DMCA makes it broadly illegal to circumvent copyright controls but allows the U.S. Copyright Office to set exemptions to that rule. One notable exemption is for phone jailbreaking, which lets purchasers have total control over their phones.

However, Pex wants a different kind of copyright exemption. As a company, they scrape content from Facebook, YouTube and others to track suspected copyright infringers. Those providers aren’t happy about the scraping and have worked to stop it, leading Pex to ask the Copyright Office for an exemption to ensure the legality of their activities.

3: Hard-Fought Copyright Case Produces Just $750 Award

Finally today, Mike Nepple at JD Supra reports that photographer Michael Grecco has won an award against blogger Lee Golden but probably isn’t too thrilled about it. He only won $750 in damages, the minimum allowed under the law, and no attorneys’ fees.

In 2015 Golden used a photo taken by Grecco in a post on his site. In 2019, when Greggo learned about the infringement, his attorneys contacted Golden and sent him a demand for $25,000. Golden filed the lawsuit and asked the court to find that his use of the image was non-infringing, but the court quickly ruled that he did commit infringement leaving open only the issue of damages.

However, the two sides began to argue over damages with the judge deciding to award Grecco just $750 for the infringement and denied attorneys’ fees on account of Golden believing his use was non-infringing and removing it immediately after being notified. There is no word if Grecco intends to appeal the award amount.

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