The
first legal controversy was about a lawsuit between producer Dr. Luke and
former artist Ke$ha. There were allegations about the producer manipulating the
artist career and sexually abusing her. The article stated how he forced her to
do drugs and awful things. She ultimately
wanted to breech the contract because he was controlling. She began to have an eating disorder and went
to rehab in regards to it. I believe that artists should be careful who they
sign contracts with. Making sure to a lawyer is present and that if the artist
is 18 and in high school parents should be involved the uttermost. Even though
Ke$ha’s producer made statements that she only made those accusations about him
raping her and the such, so she could breech contract without penalty, then
resulted in a lawsuit as well. Personally I think she was being brave by
protecting herself.
In
the second article, there was a lawsuit claiming Sony Music cheated former
winners of the American Idol record label 19 Recordings. The lawsuits represented
the interests of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood Christ Daughtry, Clay Aiken
and more out of millions of dollars. American Idol Record Label 19 Recordings is
suing Sony for allegedly failing o pay former contestants massive amounts of
royalties due for their music. Some examples included treating streaming music
sources like Spotify as “sales” rather than “broadcast,” which would have cost
more under the terms of their contract.
19 Entertainment disputed how Sony Music classified sales of individual
songs off albums on iTunes and is seeking at least $10 million in damages. Even
though it was mentioned in the article that Sony hadn’t made any comment on the
suit, I believe the lawsuit is right and fair.
No matter how long it takes, the plaintiffs should reap justice.
The third
intellectual property issue I came across was the 2012 multibillion-dollar
lawsuit alleging that Disney heisted the copyrights to some of the most iconic
comic book characters. Despite years of
court losses, the resilient company that was founded by Stan Lee in the late
1990s still is attempting to convince the world that it was robbed a decade ago
of many valuable franchises including Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The X-Men,
The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. Stan
Lee Media Inc. is a company based in Colorado that the legendary comic book
author Stan Lee founded but is no longer connected to- says it is the rightful
owner of the copyrights to such characters mentioned above. There was a lawsuit
that took place in October 1988 where Lee assigned the copyrights to his
characters to a predecessor of Stan Lee Media. In November 1988, Lee signed an
agreement with comic book company Marvel Enterprises “in which he purportedly
assigned to Marvel the rights to the characters,” according to the lawsuit.
Marvel never registered the copyrights, according to the lawsuit. Disney then
scooped up Marvel and went on to make multimillion-dollar movie franchises
around many of the characters. There also claims within the lawsuit that movies
based on the characters have generated $3 billion in box office receipts in
just the past three years. According to the lawsuit, The fact is that Stan Lee
Media, Inc. owns the copyrights to Stan Lee’s creations”, but the Plaintiff
Stan Lee Media, Inc. expressed that he is entitled to the billions of dollars
of profits that have been kept by Defendant Disney. In my opinion, if it’s written
and signed on paper in black and white then it is what it is and considered
factual and legit. I must say the Plaintiff could have a point especially if he
could prove that Marvel was suppose to register the copyrights, but it is also
the Plaintiff’s responsibility to revise their steps and protect their
creativity in every way possible so matters within this lawsuits would occur
ever.
References:
Ingold, J. (2012, October 11). Denver federal lawsuit
alleges Disney stole comic book Copyrights.
Retrieved on January 10, 2015 from http://www.denverpost.com/ci_21745070/denver-federal-lawsuit-alleges-disney-stole-comic-book
Turner, A. (2014, February 21). American Idol lawsuit: Did
Sony Cheat Winner Kelly Clarkson,
Carrie Underwood? Retrieved on January 10, 2015 from http://americanidolnet.com/american-idol-lawsuit-did-sony-cheat-winners-kelly-clarkson-carrie-underwood/
Ugwu, R. (2014, October 14). Kesha Accuses Producer Dr. Luke
Of Sexual and Emotional
Abuse in Lawsuit, Dr. Luke Countersues. Retrieved on January 9, 2015 from http://www.buzzfeed.com/reggieugwu/kesha-sues-producer-dr-luke-for-sexual-assault-and-battery
