Industry Liabilities

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