Sony BMG guilty in copyright case
p2p news / p2pnet: Sony BMG, infamous for planting secret spyware DRM on music CDs to stop users from infringing on its copyrights, has been found guilty of wilful copyright infringement.
A jury in Houston, Texas, found Suckafree Records, Lil’ Flip, his manager Estelle Douglass Hobbs, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Columbia Records, Loud Records, Lucky Publishing and Hobbs Publishing, “willfully violated the copyrighted music of Tommy Granville, when the Defendants included it on Lil’ Flip’s platinum-selling CD, Undaground Legend,” says AllHipHop.com.
The jury awarded Granville $150,000, the maximum statutory damages under the law, says the story, going on that Sony was also fined $12,000 for failing to turn over financial documents.
In a separate action in 2004, NamCo America sued the same defendants for copyright infringement over Lil’ Flip’s, “Game Over,” says AllHipHop.com, adding the suit was settled before it could go to trial.
Also See:
AllHipHop.com – Lil’ Flip/Sony BMG Music Found Guilty Of Copyright Infringement, January 30, 2006
January 31st, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Hey Jon, why is it that ***IAA dons are always conveniently unavailable for comment when things don’t quite go their way:
http://money.canoe.ca/News/Other/2006/01/30/1418733-cp.html
February 1st, 2006 at 4:49 am
I’m no big fan of Song BMG, of course, but it sounds to me like the “copyright infringement” at issue here may have been sampling. I think sampling ought to be legal.
February 1st, 2006 at 12:55 pm
I don’t like Sony-BMG. As Rafael Venegas has indicated here, Sony is a flagrant infringer and has been sued by Rafael. A shame that case is not talked about anywhere.
But in all fairness, this is not a good case against Sony-BMG.
Says says AllHipHop.com:
“Lil’ Flip (real name Wesley Eric Weston) was sued in Nov. 2004 for alleged unauthorized use of three melodies on his major label debut, Undaground Legend.”
Well melodies are not songs. If a performer claims to have written a song and records the song for a label, all the label need to do is to get a license from the performer-songwriter. It is not reasonable to expect a label (Sony-BMG here) to discover that another song was plagiarized or that the performer-songwriter is not the real songwriter. This is because the required copyright research is not at all possible. Labels have learned that the copyright clearance people canot do very much in insuring that all is well with a licensed song and that all song licenses are a gamble. When the sources for songs have a solid track history, the gambe can be taken.
In this case what will happen is that Sony may not be the party that pays the damages for the infringement. If Sony were to pay, it will somehow pass the bill to the real infringer, the performer-songwriter. Surely Sony has a “hold harmless” in their contract with the performer-songwriter that will force the performer-songwriter to pay Sony for whatever legal losses and expenses they incurred.
Where Sony-BMG may have failed, is in their gamble with the source of the song. It failed.
If one celebrates false victories against the RIAA/Sony-BMG bunch, one is doing the same thing they are continously doing with their alleged victories over file sharing.
February 1st, 2006 at 1:02 pm
“Surely Sony has a “hold harmless” in their contract”
Correction
Surely Sony has a “hold harmless” CLAUSE in their contract
February 1st, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Not so innocent!
Sony was fined $18,000 for withholding information in the case.
February 1st, 2006 at 4:02 pm
This cases amazes me.
A $150,000 award?
A music publisher infringed over 500 songs we own by claiming false ownership and preventing our collectoion of over $1,000,000 in royalty money (diverted from us) from various record companies and television producers and all we got as a sentence was $16,000.
A second music publisher acted in a similar manner as the just mentioned publisher and received over $1,000,000 (current value) in royalties illegally collected and money (diverted from us) and got a sentence of $5,000.
Sony was fined $18,000 for withholding information. In our case withheld information and discovery documents was common. Penalty for the defendants? A big fat prize of extremely (de facto inexistent) low damage awards.
Will we fare better in our lawsuit of Feb/2001 against Sony? Totally unpredictable, it seems even if the infringement is perfectly clear and proven already. The case is stalled for five years. The reason: None, other than “judicial discretion”.
Can anyone figure out the disgraceful American federal court system?
See more here:
Venegas v. Sony Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
http://rafa_venegas.web.prdigital.com/venegas_v_sony_lawsuit.htm
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
August 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Thanx A HEEP
The fact that OPP pulled a man over and rushed him to the hospital to save his life should be commended. The âboys in Blueâ have a hell of a time on the front lines of providing safety to the community at large, and should be praised and assisted when a âjob well doneâ is looking for praise. However, OPP released this privacy to the MEDIA with the intent of showing the public that the force is with us and keeping our ROCK STARS on the straight and narrow has its ups and downs. CTV showed up at my house and interviewed the neighbours without verifying the validity of the claim with myself. Later that eve they ran the edition with follow up by radio stations and Newspapers around the World. When the MEDIA finally got hold of myself, I decided to utilize this event to expose many facets of MEDIA, Entertainment, Intellectual Property Infringement and Government Enforcement Agencies. If the MEDIA runs my interveiw in its unedited full length, the publics ability to decide for themselves if TRUTH is being reported (or not), would be in the hands of the many. For a century and a half we have been told that ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL invented the telephone. It turns out the AGB slipped Western Union 10% of earnings and removed the patent title pending from ANTONIO MAUCHI (sp?) within the halls of the Library of Congress in Washington DC. If something as important as the telephone can be misappropriated as truth and the person responsible for the Intellectual Property is stripped of ownership within the halls of the Library of Congress, then what happens to all other Intellectual Properties (IP) and patent pending World wide? Good Question?
WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization had a meeting the first week of Feb. 08 where 500 delegates from around the Globe met to discuss the very topic of IP and its proper protection,development, and distribution. Only problem is, a Country like Canada sits as one of the top 5 Countries of the World for IP piracy. Added to this we only represent 4% of the Music buying Public. If you break up all the genres of Music into categories of Jazz, Country, Rock etcâ¦â¦.. how much revenues are actually available to the owner of the IP after illegal sharing and distribution occurs on Global scales? Further, our enforcement agencies have no ability in our own country, why then create laws for sandwhich eaters that attend delegate meetings in DUBAI, at the tax payers expense. McGuinty released a copyright protection law after apologizing to the Aboriginal people of Canada stating, âif the artist or the artist representative or distributors believe they have been infringed upon, the artist and its representative have the responsibility and the right to go after the infringer! Our question? If you order a pizza from Gino and eat the Pizza without paying Gino, is it Ginosâ responsibility to go after the infringer? Of course not! That is what law and law enforcement is about. As artists our product has been devalued by society and justification for theft is being supported by the Government. Many fingers have been pointed at the Aboriginal Initiatives for acting as âlaw lessâ, when infact and in truth, it was the powers that be acting on ignorance and attitudes inherited by attitudes and perceptions by our forefathers. These attitudes transcended from our professionals of society and have been allowed and justified by the children of societies elite. These same children who disrespect our IP will pay $200.00 for a specific tag on the back of a pair of boots or $5000.00 for a specific amp / speaker / wiring package for the sports car of choice. Our society has infact taught its own inheritors to âtake when no one is lookingâ and to devalue the out come of hundreds of hours of creativity. The same society will pay $100 000.00 for a painting with 3 strips of colour for the house of parliament? Now I ask! All of the public that enjoy âart at willâ how they would feel if they were not paid for their vocation of choice. Teachers, OLG employees, Hospital employees, Lawyers, cooks, etcâ¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦.100âs of hours of work taken from you? You are not paid at all? You still have bills? Children? Vehicles? how do you survive when society is âAT LARGEâ. The USA is now making mothers and fathers responsible for IP theft. One mother was charged $260 000.00 for copyright infringement and many others have followed. If a parent purchases an air rifle and the child uses the gift as a weapon, society holds the parent responsible for mis use. If a child takes the keys to a vehicle without permission, and the child kills or hurts another person as a result, the parent is held responsible by society.
B.Spears is in every story! isnât she!
I wrote Slave 4 You in 1999 and have SOCAN registry predating B. Spears liner notes claim of ownership as âpreviously unreleased originalâ. Please go to B. Spears / Dean Hajas / Matt Haywood / Bruce Scavuzzo / HHO Publishing / Wade Leak / SONY / BMG to get the story on how an artist of corporate nature has stolen from the very sorce that provides the parts for the public to grease. Somehow the product has been misappropriated and so has the grease!
You be responsible! You make a choice! You be informed!
Michael Dean Hajas
#2 Walter St. Oakland, ON
NOE 1L0
mdean707@hotmail.com
August 25th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
M. Dean Hajas says:
Posted: August 15th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Shania Twain: Cheater Denies Everythingâ¦
EmailWritten by confessing7girl on May-26-08 3:56pm
From: 7confessions.blogspot.com
Shania Twain is still reeling from a double betrayal, not only by her husband of 14 years, music producer Robert âMuttâ Lange, but by a woman she considered a close friend.
Langeâs relationship with Marie-Anne Thiébaud a longtime secretary and house manager at Twain and Langeâs estate in Switzerland, was behind the breakup, say several sources familiar with the situation.âMutt and Marie-Anne left their spouses for each other and are still in a relationship,â says one source, adding that the Swiss employee was a fixture in the household Twain and Lange shared with their son, 6-year-old Eja DâAngelo. âTheir two families would vacation and spend holidays together. Shania considered Marie-Anne one of her best friends.â
Marie Anne Thiébaud has slammed reports she broke up Shania and Mutt Langeâs 14-year marriage. The secretary denies rumors she became close or had an affair with Robert.
âWhen marriages break up they break up for all sorts of complicated reasons, itâs never just one reason,â she tells Us Weekly. âAnd those reasons should be kept private. If youâre looking for a person that broke up a marriage then you have the wrong person. Iâm not that person.â
Gold-digger!! Mutt is just plain stupid to leave someone as hot as Shania for that âsecretaryâ!
Source 1, 2
Read More: Cheats & Lies: Shania Twain & Mutt Lange Split
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Comments
deanoz saidâ¦
Aug-11-08 11:41am
SLAVE 4 TRUTH
Robert John âMuttâ Lang and Matt Haywood (formerly of HHO Publishing) together with B. Spears SONY ZOMBA BMG stole my SOCAN registery pre dating liner note suggestion.
DDLR: So whatâs the angle on your Dave Lee Roth scam? Does it not just make you look dumb?
Dean Hajas: The angle on the DLR story is that the OPP released the story to CTV as though it were fact. CTV ran the story without talking to me to verify the validity of the claim. When the media finally realized it had mad a blunder, it then tried to pin the story on any donkey in the area. I chose to run with the story, thinking âwhat the hellâ if people want to believe DLR was staying at my house in Oakland Ontario, let them. It was fun, interesting, controversial, and entertaining.
DLR camp canât thank us enough.! And weâve been on Howard Stern now and Radio one in Detroit.
Not bad for a rumor
DDLR: Ah ok thanks for answering. I should have said in my original email that the reason I asked was as a webmaster at the main Roth fan site I saw through it pretty early and found the whole thing odd. Did you ever meet the weird impersonator guy?
Dean Hajas: The impersonator guy? It gets a little darker around the edges when you mention DLR and DPA together in the same sentence. There is a gag order with regards to these two. Remember the Police released the info as GOSPEL and CTV followed. I could get into financial trouble for giving anymore info as of yet.
DDLR: Are you the same guy claiming a copyright thing with Britney Spears, is that a scam too?
Dean Hajas: With regards to B. Spears. The absolute truth! I met with Matt Haywood of HHO Publishing in Oct. of 2001 in England. Matt originates from South Africa as does Robert John âMuttâ Lang. They both show up in the UK in the early 70âs. Matt started Expansion records and Mutt Zomba. I went over to England to visit a son of mine during the 911 event and took my song roster with me. I down loaded a UK music directory and circled two companies HHO Publishing and Zomba. I met with reps from both companies and was advised that Matt Haywood wanted to be my UK representative. Matt left HHO Publishing as the disgruntled employee and left with an undisclosed amount of intellectual properties. I returned to Canada producing Jazz and Country and Native flut music. I was at Future shop Christmas of 2005 and thatâs when I heard my melody. I donât lay claim to the lyrical content of Slave 4 You, however Zomba and its affiliate members and representatives didnât change a thing about my creation. I have the SOCAN registry of my creation which also predates B.Spears claim of ownership in her liner notes as âpreviously unreleased original by B. Spearsâ. B. Spears has 6 A & R representatives combing the Globe for potential hits, and they suck the life force out of creation. Wade Leak of SONY BMG is the legal counsel for this matter and is trying to use âstatutory of limitationsâ regarding the ownership of the said creation. Our contention with this, the writer of Stairway to Heaven wrote the hit in 1972 and renumeration didnât take place until 1993. Our plan is to win in two other zones (Countries) other than the USA, thereby forcing the USA to reopen this record smashing copyright infringement. When I realized that the Media was Knee deep in this story, I took full advantage of the situation to draw attention to the real story behing the DLR supposed sighting. Sorry for any hurt feelings, to DLR fans, however I hope you can appreciate the run around that I have been getting from Eric Levine, Bruce Scavuzzo, Dave Schmidt and Wade Leak to name a few. Our country has contention with the library of Congress in Washington D.C. It seems in 1864 Alexander Graham Bell claims to have invented the telephone. For over a hundred years our media and schools have reported this as truth. I later find out that Alexander Graham Bell promised Western Union 10% of earnings to remove Antonio Maouchi (sp?) from being recognized as the patent pending owner and holder. If the Library of Congress can allow such a blunder when it comes to something as revolutionarey as the telephone, then how can the FBI and USA stand behind its copyright laws as enforceable, authentic and transparent to other would be artisans, inventors and musicians alike?
Hope this helps you out Sesh.
M. Dean Hajas