Eminem Music Licensor Sues Facebook for Copyright Infringement

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Social media behemoth Facebook and an Oregon ad agency have been sued for copyright infringement [17 U.S.C. sec. 101 et seq.] in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by the company that licenses and manages the music of 40-year-old rapper/songwriter Eminem (Marshall Bruce Mathers III).

In the Complaint filed May 20, Eight Mile Style, LLC & Martin Affiliated LLC v. Wieden + Kennedy Inc. & Facebook, Inc. (Case No. 2:13-cv-12268-GAD-MAR), the plaintiffs allege the defendants used an unauthorized version of Eminem's song "Under the Influence" from his Marshall Mathers LP to promote Facebook Home, an Android-compatible smartphone software application enabling users to post Facebook content from their mobile devices that was introduced in April 2013. The Complaint alleges the defendant ad agency selected the music to win over Facebook mogul Mark Zuckerberg, purportedly a big fan of Eminem.

According to a post about the suit by Courthouse News Service, Eight Mile Style LLC has brought 10 copyright infringement suits dating back to 2010. In an article about the copyright suit, the THR, Esq. Web site reported that the defendant ad agency claimed hip-hop producer Dr. Dre, who often collaborates with Eminem, wrote "Under the Influence" by allegedly cannibalizing a Michael Jackson hit, "Give It to Me."

Judge Gershwin A. Drain will preside over the parties' discordant notes.

Digital TV Streamer Asks Court to Dismiss Broadcast Networks Copyright Suit

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In a 31-page motion for summary judgment, digital tv streaming service Aereo has asked United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Alison Nathan to dismiss copyright infringement claims brought by commercial public broadcasters. 

In American Broadcasting Cos. et al v. Aereo (Case No. 1:12-cv-01540), Aereo, which is financially backed by media mogul Barry Diller (see "TUOL" post 8/14/12), argues the March 2012, copyright infringement suit brought by commercial broadcasters CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox should be dismissed following the networks' failure to persuade the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn Judge Nathan's earlier ruling not to issue a permanent injunction against Aereo for allegedly violating the broadcasters' right to public performance of its programming by not securing a license from the networks.

Aereo, which digitally streams broadcasters' programming over the Internet one-on-one to subscribers' computers and Web-enabled devices, contends its transmission to individuals' miniature antennae is nonpublic and in any case, protected by the fair use defense to copyright infringement, as reported by BloombergBusinessWeek(www.businessweek.com) and the Hollywood Reporter's legal blog THR, Esq. The networks counter that Aereo capturing their over-the-air signals and transmitting its programming constitutes a public performance that infringes on their copyrights.

Movie of a Lifetime Draws Judicial Interest

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When you turn on cable tv tomorrow night at 8 p.m. with a bowl of microwave popcorn and tune in Romeo Killer: The Christopher Porco Story on Lifetime Television, take a moment to thank the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division (3rd Department) for your night of entertainment.

Acting on an emergency motion from Lifetime, an A+E Networks subsidiary, the appellate division stayed an injunction issued Tuesday by Supreme Court Judge Robert Muller, who granted convicted killer Christopher Porco's request on the grounds that the true-crime pot-boiler violated Porco's privacy. Specifically, New York Civil Rights Section 51, allows an individual whose right-to-publicity is violated to seek a remedy if his "name, picture, portrait or voice is used...for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent first obtained."

Lifetime raised its First Amendment dander over judicial prior restraint and argued it was entitled to show the film starring 29-year-old Matt Barr of House Bunny and American Pie Presents Band Camp fame because of its newsworthy subject--the story of Christopher Porco, a guy who killed his father and attempted to murder his mother. Judge Muller believed the work was too fictionalized an account to warrant such protection.

The THR, Esq. Web site originally reported the story. The appellate court gave Porco until April 10 to show cause why Judge Muller's injunctive order shouldn't be lifted, a bit of a head-scratcher because the two-hour film is airing on March 23.

Meanwhile, Lifetime is making the most of the dust-up, advertising the movie as the "Lifetime Original Movie Chris Porco doesn't want you to see." On its Web site, Lifetime Television claims it is "committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families." Lifetime's commitment includes airing the series Army Wives, Hoarders and Project Runway.

Generally, when convicted felons initiate invasion of privacy suits over news media outlets reporting on their past crimes in retrospectives, courts are unsympathetic, taking the position that the camera-shy plaintiffs could avoid unwanted attention by not robbing banks or engaging in other socially unacceptable behavior.

On second thought, instead of thanking the New York Appellate Division for upholding the First Amendment, you might want to take stock and address why you're home on a Saturday night eating microwave popcorn and watching half-baked ripped-from-the-headlines tv movies.