Pryor Cashman Scores Appellate Copyright Victory for Sony
Led by Pryor Cashman Partner David C. Rose, Sony Music Entertainment and various affiliates - including Sony ATV Music Publishing - ("Sony") defeated a copyright infringement lawsuit before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Associate Benjamin Akley of the firm's Litigation Group also assisted on this matter.
At issue in this action were claims brought by Luis Adrián Cortés-Ramos (“Cortés-Ramos”), a Puerto Rican songwriter, alleging, among other things, that Sony fraudulently induced him into signing a release in connection with a music contest it ran with best-selling recording artist, Ricky Martin (“Martin”).
The "SuperSong" Contest
As part of the "SuperSong" contest, entrants submitted an original song and accompanying music video to Sony. The winning song would be performed by Martin at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Cortés-Ramos entered the contest and submitted his materials to Sony via its company website.
A few weeks later, Cortés-Ramos signed two contest documents – a release and an affidavit – which he sent to Sony. The Official Contest Rules ("Rules"), which were referenced in these documents, contained a clause stipulating that any disputes arising in connection with the contest would be resolved through arbitration.
Cortés-Ramos did not win the contest, but months later filed a copyright infringement suit claiming Martin’s newly-released song, “Vida,” closely resembled his original contest submission.
The District Court's Ruling and the Appeal
In 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico dismissed Cortés-Ramos's suit with prejudice on two grounds: first, that the claims were subject to mandatory arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, and second, that Cortés failed to allege facts sufficient to support his claims under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The Court directed the parties to proceed to arbitration. Cortés-Ramos then appealed to the First Circuit.
On appeal, Rose successfully argued that because Cortés-Ramos failed to challenge the portion of the District Court’s ruling compelling the parties to arbitration, its decision should be affirmed. The First Circuit agreed, ordering the parties to arbitration as originally stipulated in the Rules, and dismissing all claims against Sony.
To read the Court’s full decision, please visit here.
Additional coverage of this matter can be found in Law360.
More About Pryor Cashman's Music Litigation Practice
Since its inception, Pryor Cashman has delivered best-in-class service to clients in the music industry on matters ranging from litigation to cutting-edge licensing deals. Our attorneys have argued – and won – seminal cases which have defined the boundaries of exploiting musical content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), along with multimillion intellectual property matters on behalf of some of the best-known musicians, artists and songwriters.
To learn more about our work in this area, please visit our music litigation practice page.
