LOS ANGELES (CN) — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a motion to trim claims in a lawsuit brought by an independent Danish record label against the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
Iceberg Records claims the platinum-selling pop group sampled the 1994 hit single “Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop)," by American artist Scatman John, in their 2022 track "Bailar Contigo." That latter song featured Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee, who is also named as a defendant in the suit along with Sony.
According to a federal complaint from March, the Black Eyed Peas discussed the possibility of two different licensing agreements: a publishing license, which allows artists to record a new version of a song themselves, and a master rights agreement, which allows an artist to use original recordings. The Peas purchased a publishing license but then went ahead and used the original recording as a sample despite not having a master rights agreement, Iceberg Records said in its lawsuit.
"Although it appears that defendants attempted to manipulate the sound recording slightly to hide their infringement, the work remains so strikingly similar to the song that it could not have been created without using the song’s sound recording," Iceberg Records states in its suit. The label is seeking claims for copyright infringement and fraud.
Sony in July filed a motion to dismiss the fraud allegation “on the grounds that the fraud claim fails to state a cognizable claim for damages and is preempted” by the Copyright Act. The music giant further argued that "Iceberg suffered no out of pocket damages from the alleged fraud" and that "its only damages are copyright infringement damages."
But U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Blumenfeld disagreed, writing in a tentative ruling dated Thursday that Iceberg Records had "plausibly pleaded that it incurred lost profits damages as a result of the alleged fraud." He also wrote that the fraud claim wasn't preempted by the Copyright Act because the former claim was “qualitatively different" from the latter.
There were no oral arguments during a brief hearing held on Friday. Lawyers for both sides submitted filings on the ruling, and the judge adopted his tentative decision from the bench.
The parties told the judge that they had agreed to mediation in October — indicating that a settlement is a real possibility. If negotiations fail, a jury trial is scheduled to begin in April 2025.
Follow @hillelaron
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
Hearthstone player lacks standing August 19, 2024 -
