Pryor Cashman Scores Litigation Victory For Barenaked Ladies
Pryor Cashman scored a victory on behalf of the Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies in a lawsuit brought in California state court by former band member Steven Page. The suit sought royalties from the band’s highly successful theme song to the hit television series The Big Bang Theory.
Representing lead singer and co-founder of the band Ed Robertson – along with fellow band members Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, and Taylor Stewart – Pryor Cashman achieved a stay of the California case pending the outcome of a related lawsuit currently pending in Canada.
Page argued that an agreement between the band and Warner Bros. Television with a California choice of law provision governed the dispute. Pryor Cashman argued that the Warner Agreement was irrelevant to the issue of how royalties are to be divided among the band members and the California court agreed. The Court also found that, given the advanced state of the Canadian action, California is a seriously inconvenient forum.
The Barenaked Ladies were represented by Partner Frank Scibilia, Co-Chair of Pryor Cashman’s Digital Media Practice Group, and Partner Michael Niborski, both members of the firm’s Litigation, Intellectual Property, and Media & Entertainment Groups.
To read Judge Barbara Scheper’s February 17, 2016 order granting the motion to stay the action on behalf of the band members in Steven Page v. Edward Robertson, Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC594455, please click here.
