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Spotify is launching a music advisory agency for brands, the streamer announced on Wednesday (Feb. 21). For its inaugural campaign, the agency, dubbed AUX, connected Coca-Cola with the DJ-producer Peggy Gou. The two have “built a long-term partnership that will span live concerts and events, social media content, a branded playlist, and on-platform promotional support,” […]
A federal appeals court has rejected a copyright lawsuit that claimed Nickelback ripped off its 2006 hit “Rockstar” from an earlier song called “Rock Star,” ruling that the band can’t be sued simply for using “clichés” and “singing about being a rockstar.”
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Upholding a judge’s decision last year that tossed the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Monday that Kirk Johnston had not even come close to proving that Nickelback infringed his earlier song when it released “Rockstar.”
Johnston, the lead singer of a Texas band called Snowblind Revival, had argued that the two songs have such similar lyrics that the lower judge should have ruled that they were “strikingly similar,” but the appeals court sharply disagreed.
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“Johnston’s expert categorizes the lyrics into common themes such as ‘making lots of money,’ ‘connections to famous people,’ and ‘references to sports’,” the three-judge panel wrote. “But these broad categories are mere clichés of being a rockstar that are not unique to the rock genre. Singing about being a rockstar is not limited to Johnston.”
Ditto for other lyrics about sports, the appeals court wrote. Johnston’s song included the line “Might buy the Cowboys and that’s how I’ll spend my Sundays,” while Nickelback’s song featured the line “And a bathroom I can play baseball in.”
“These lyrics reference different sports in different contexts, and do not approach the threshold of striking similarity,” the appellate judges wrote. “No reasonable juror would think that Nickelback could have produced its lyric about baseball only by copying Johnston’s lyric about football.”
Released on Nickelback’s 2005 album, All the Right Reasons, “Rockstar” has not aged well with critics. In 2008, the Guardian said the song “makes literally no sense and is the worst thing of all time.” In 2012, Buzzfeed listed it as the second-worst song ever written, citing it as an example of “why everyone hates Nickelback so much.” But the song was a commercial hit, eventually reaching No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 2007 and ultimately spending nearly a year on the chart.
Johnston sued in May 2020, claiming the hit song had stolen “substantial portions” of his own “Rock Star,” including the “tempo, song form, melodic structure, harmonic structures and lyrical themes.” In particular, he cited similar lyrics about rock star lifestyles, making huge amounts of money and having famous friends.
But in March 2023, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman that Johnston’s case at times “borders on the absurd.” He said any similarities between the two songs were just “outlandish stereotypes and images associated with being a huge, famous, rock star,” and that much of the rest of the songs were different.
“Stated simply, they do not sound alike,” the judge wrote. “Where both songs evoke similar themes, they are rendered dissimilar through the vivid detail of the original expression in Nickelback’s lyrics.”
On Monday, the Fifth Circuit upheld that decision – meaning that, barring an extremely unlikely trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, the case is over for good.
In the ruling, the appeals court also upheld another important finding: That there was zero evidence that frontman Chad Kroeger and the other members of the rock band ever heard Johnston’s earlier song. Such “access” is a key question in any copyright lawsuit; without showing “access”, an accuser like Johnston must prove that two songs are essentially identical.
In appealing that ruling, Johnston argued that his band Snowblind Revival and Nickelback were “moving in relatively the same circles,” or that UMG executives had potentially attended one of his band’s shows at an Austin concert venue. But the appeals court was unmoved, calling it “mere speculation.”
“Inferring access from this evidence would require ‘leaps of logic’ that are not supported by the record,” the appeals court wrote. “A jury would have to infer that the executives Johnston named actually attended Snowblind’s shows or received one of his demo CDs, and that these executives then showed the song to Nickelback. This “chain of hypothetical transmittals is insufficient …especially in the face of testimony from Nickelback members and relevant executives that they had never heard of Johnston’s song.”
Attorneys for both sides did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday.
Catch Point Rights Partners, the private-equity backed music rights acquisition firm that has purchased the publishing of such artists/songwriters and/or producers as Brantley Gilbert, Yelawolf and All Time Low, is now offering a program through which it will buy performance rights income streams from songwriters while allowing them to retain ownership and control of all of […]
Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed his first legal response to allegations that he “sex trafficked” and “gang raped” a 17-year-old girl in 2003, telling a federal court that the allegations are “fictional” and violate his constitutional right to due process.
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The lawsuit, filed in December, was one of several abuse cases filed against the hip hop mogul late last year. In it, an unnamed Jane Doe accuser claimed that Combs and former Bad Boy Records president Harve Pierre “plied” her with drugs and alcohol before raping her in a Manhattan recording studio when she was just a high school junior.
But in his first formal response to the lawsuit, attorneys for Combs tell a federal court Tuesday that the events simply did not happen: “He never participated in, witnessed, or was or is presently aware of any misconduct, sexual or otherwise, relating to plaintiff in any circumstance whatsoever.”
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Led by prominent entertainment litigator Shawn Holley, Combs’ attorneys not only argue that the allegations are false, but that they are unconstitutional. They say that the statute cited in the lawsuit — New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law — is itself unconstitutional “on its face,” and that his accuser’s “decision to wait more than two decades” has cost Combs “the ability to defend himself fully and fairly.”
“For example, some or all evidence that otherwise would have been available if the action had been promptly commenced may be unavailable, lost, or compromised,” Holley writes. “The absence of evidence materially impacts defendant’s ability to defend against essential aspects of plaintiff’s claims. Witness identification, availability, and recollections are likely compromised due to the substantial passage of time since the alleged incident.”
The lawyers for Combs also say the case violates the so-called doctrine of unclean hands – meaning the accuser filed the lawsuit in bad faith. In making that argument, they said the lawsuit “alleges an entirely fictional account that never occurred.” They also argue that photos cited by the accuser in her complaint could be fake, disputing the “context, genuineness, and/or accuracy” of the images.
Combs was hit with a deluge of abuse claims late last year, first in the form of explosive allegations of rape by R&B singer and longtime romantic partner Cassie. That case quickly settled, but Combs was then sued by two other women who say they were sexually assaulted, and then hit with the current case over the alleged 2003 rape of Jane Doe.
Combs has already strongly denied all of the allegations. In a statement in December, he said: “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
In her complaint, Jane Doe claimed that she met Pierre at a Detroit club in 2003, when she was just a junior in high school. After he “smoked crack cocaine” and “sexually assaulted Ms. Doe by forcing her to give him oral sex,” she says she flew to New York on Combs’ private jet to visit him in his Manhattan recording studio.
While at the studio, the lawsuit claims that Combs, Pierre and an unnamed third man “plied Ms. Doe with drugs and alcohol” until she was so inebriated that she “she could not possibly have consented to having sex with anyone, much less someone twice her age.”
“While at the studio, Ms. Doe was gang raped by Mr. Combs, the Third Assailant and Mr. Pierre, in that order,” Wigdor writes in the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims the unnamed man “raped Ms. Doe as she told him to stop,” and that Pierre “violently forced her to give him oral sex, during which Ms. Doe was choking and struggling to breathe.”
After the attack, the lawsuit says the accuser “could barely stand up” and “had to be helped to walk out of the building and back into a car.” She says she was then flown back to Michigan.
Also on Tuesday, Pierre filed his own formal response to the lawsuit, saying he “never participated in the sexual assault of the Plaintiff nor did he ever witness anyone else sexually assaulting the plaintiff.” Two corporate entities named in the lawsuit — Daddy’s House Recordings, Inc. and Bad Boy Entertainment Holdings, Inc. – also asked to be dismissed from the case, arguing they could not be held liable for any alleged wrongdoing by Pierre and Combs.
In a statement to Billboard on Wednesday, Jane Doe’s lawyers sharply rejected the arguments from Combs’ lawyers: “The deeply troubling allegations against the defendants by multiple women speak for themselves. The ridiculous claim that the photos are somehow fake and the law at issue is unconstitutional are nothing more than desperate attempts to conjure a defense where none exists.”
Read Diddy’s full legal filing here:
Sony Corporation of America’s personal entertainment business division today announced a partnership between global breakout star Peso Pluma and Sony’s audio brand campaign, “For The Music.” The collaboration marks Pluma’s first brand partnership.
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The agreement further strengthens what is sure to be a record year for the 24-year-old Mexican artist, who just announced a 54-date Exodo arena tour and is set to headline Coachella, Baja Beach Festival, Chicago’s Sueños Festival and New York’s Gov Ball festival. Peso said in a statement to Billboard that he was “excited for the opportunity to collaborate with Sony” and sees the “For The Music” campaign as a chance to open “pathways for Latin Music” markets and audiences around the world. Sony established the audio brand campaign “For The Music” for its premier consumer and professional audio products and services including its noise cancelling headphones, premium noise canceling earbuds, wireless speakers and pro audio hardware.
With “For The Music,” Sony is “affirming itself as the premier audio brand connecting music creators and consumers, aiming to create authentic music experiences and transcend emotion for fans through its personal electronic products,” a press release announcing the deal explains.
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“Since the launch of ‘For The Music,’ we have cultivated such amazing collaborations with artists on products and experiences that have brought their creative vision to fans in new and innovative ways,” says Jordy Freed, head of brand, business development, partner marketing & strategy, personal entertainment business in Sony Corporation of America. “We are thrilled to continue this work with Peso Pluma and support him as he takes his music to new levels.”
Less than one year ago, Plumas was selected as Billboard’s March 2023 Latin Artist on the Rise, setting an agenda to globalize the decades-old música mexicana genre. Since then, he’s landed over 20 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including his blockbuster collab with Eslabon Armado “Ella Baila Sola,” and his album Génesis, which made history when it debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, the highest ranking for a Mexican music album on the chart.
Most recently, Sony has partnered with Olivia Rodrigo, Miguel, SZA, Khalid, Tate McRae, and other artists. More here.
A&R veteran Tim Glover is named as president of A&R, Pulse Records, Billboard can confirm.
Glover joins the team from Interscope Geffen A&M, where he served as executive VP of A&R since 2022, and held the position as senior vp of A&R before that.
In his new role, announced today (Feb. 21), Glover works specifically on the Pulse Records division of Pulse Music Group, the umbrella company, and reports jointly to Scott Cutler, co-CEO of Pulse Music Group; Josh Abraham, co-CEO of Pulse Music Group; and Ashley Calhoun, president, Pulse Music Group.
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During his time at Interscope, Glover was the point person for the label’s partnerships with Dreamville — which has included such artists as J. Cole, JID and Ari Lennox, among others — and LVRN, including Summer Walker and 6LACK, as well as working with Tierra Whack and more than a dozen other artists at the label.
“Tim’s creative ability has led him to sign and work with some of the world’s top recording artists,” reads a statement issued jointly by Abraham, Cutler, and Calhoun. “We want our artists at Pulse Records to work with the very best in executive talent and Tim will be a key part of the team as we continue to build.”
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The experienced recruit joined Interscope in 2014, was promoted to senior vp in March 2019, and in 2021 was named to Billboard’s 40 Under 40 list of trailblazing young executives in the music business.
At Pulse, Glover will continue to A&R select projects with Interscope, a rep tells Billboard.
Launched in June 2023, Pulse Records is a part of Concord Label Group and is distributed through the company’s longtime relationship with Universal Music Group.
Since then, Pulse Records formed an artist development joint venture with ISO Supremacy, the new record label founded by platinum recording artist and Pulse Music Group publishing client, Brent Faiyaz. Through that arrangement, Pulse and Faiyaz signed Tommy Richman to Pulse Records.
Also, Pulse Records recently signed New Zealand-born, South African artist 9lives, a leader in the Sigilkore scene, a rap subgenre which blends cloudrap, hyperpop, and electronic, working with the likes of Trippie Redd, Rico Nasty, JELEEL!, Kanii and Odetari.
The Pulse team “is synonymous with artist creativity, artist development, building a strong creative community, and they go out of their way to customize their A&R strategies to the unique needs of each and every artist,” comments Glover in a statement announcing his appointment. “I look forward to big things ahead.”
Capitol Records Nashville artist Jon Pardi (“Head Over Boots,” “Heartache on the Dance Floor”) signed with WME and will be represented by multiple departments across the agency, including touring, brand partnerships, TV, film and digital. Pardi is managed by Red Light Management’s Gaines Sturdivant and C3 Management’s Charlie Walker. – Jessica Nicholson
British rock band Sleep Token signed with RCA Records. The group is an anonymous, masked collective led by a singer who goes by the name Vessel. Sleep Token is represented by manager Ryan Richards at Future History Management; booking agent Nick Storch at Independent Artist Group for North and South America; and booking agent Paul Ryan at UTA for the rest of the world. It was previously signed to Spinefarm/Universal.
Australian band Crowded House signed a global record deal with BMG for its upcoming eighth studio album, Gravity Stairs, which is slated for release on May 31.
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Bluegrass singer-songwriter Wyatt Ellis signed with WME for global representation. Ellis, who recently released his debut album Happy Valley, is represented by Red Light Management’s Neil Mason and Tom Lord, with Morris Public Relations/Alison Auerbach P.R. overseeing public relations/artist development. The Andrea Roberts Agency is handling radio promotion. “Blue Smoke” feat. Marty Stuart, a song from Happy Valley, was recently in the top spot on Spotify’s New Grass Playlist. – Jessica Nicholson
WME also signed musician and comedian Morgan Jay, whose TV credits include MTV’s Wild’n’Out, Peacock’s Girls5Eva, NBC’s Bring the Funny and Night Court. Jay boasts nearly 3 million TikTok followers and will soon announce a global tour, in addition to already-scheduled dates. He will next be seen in Comedy Central’s Stand-Up Featuring special and the Netflix Is a Joke Festival. He’s managed by Matt Sadeghian of Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Josh Sandler of Granderson Des Rochers.
Digital music company Believe launched PLAYCODE, a new imprint dedicated to the Japanese hip-hop scene, and signed three artists: ¥ellow Bucks, Red Eye and Issei Uno Fifth. This marks Believe’s latest expansion in Japan after launching operations in the country in October.
Melbourne, Australia-based band Glass Beams signed to Ninja Tune ahead of the release of its new EP, Mahal, which is set for release on Mar. 22. The band’s booking representatives are Wasserman agents Brad Owen and Tom Windish in North and South America and Wasserman’s Michael Harvey-Bray for the rest of the world, excluding Australia and New Zealand, where the group is repped by James Ware at WAT artists.
Alt-rock band Dexter and the Moonrocks signed with Nashville-based Severance Records, a division of Big Loud Rock. Its first single on the label, “She Likes Girls,” was released Wednesday (Feb. 14). the band is represented by Mike Krug at WME and manager Chris Schoemann at Lion’s Claw Entertainment.
Rapper and singer-songwriter TK Kravitz (“Ocean”) signed with MNRK Music Group for management. Currently without a label, Kravitz is also represented by VA Premiere Booking out of Atlanta.
MNRK also signed Cleveland-based alternative metal band A Killer’s Confession to its MNRK Heavy imprint globally. “Greed,” the first single under the deal, will be released on Mar. 15, with an album slated for fall. The band is represented by booking agent Andrew Goodfriend at TKO.
French-born singer, model, dancer and actor Lucky Love signed with UTA for live representation worldwide, excluding France. Love released his debut EP, TENDRESSE, in April 2023; he is signed to Belem Music.
Country singer-songwriter Jenna Paulette signed with indie label Leo33. Her debut album, The Girl I Was, was released in March 2023.
Sugar Pit, the rock project of Carbondale, Ill.-based artist Kian Stevens-Winston, signed with Atlantic/Good Luck Have Fun. His debut single on the labels, “Pay Me,” releases on Wednesday (Feb. 21).
Country singer-songwriter Carson Wallace signed with Red Light Management, where he will be represented by Enzo DeVincenzo and Anthony DeVincenzo. Wallace also recently signed a global publishing deal with Relative Music Group in partnership with Sony Music Publishing.
UTA signed Nasvhille-based country singer-songwriter Ian Harrison, a contestant on season 22 of NBC’s The Voice, for global representation in all areas. Harrison is managed by Zach Beebe at OTR Management and Laurel Kittleson-Cobb at Rainier Entertainment. He currently has no label.
Singer and actress Freya Skye signed with Hollywood Records, a division of Disney Music Group, as well as Disney Music Publishing as a songwriter. Skye, who will next appear in the fourth installment of Disney’s Zombies film franchise, previously represented the United Kingdom in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest with the single “Lose My Head.” She will soon record her debut album. Skye is represented by Link Entertainment.
Singer-songwriter Jenna LaMaster signed a management deal with Maverick Nashville. She previously signed to Sheltered Music for publishing. Her representative at Maverick Nashville is Marne McLyman.
WHY&HOW partnered with Audio Up and Audio Chateau Records to manage Uncle Drank, the fictional character created by Audio Up founder Jared Gutstadt and voiced by Will Sasso. The character was first created for the hit Uncle Drank podcast, on which he was voiced by Sasso. Uncle Drank will release a debut album titled Eternal Sunshine of the Tropical Mind via Audio Chateau and Virgin in June, to be followed by a tour. “In the spirit of Spinal Tap and Cheech and Chong, the album will thrill music aficionados and comedy nerds alike with plenty of beer, babes, bananas, boats, bong hits and most importantly beaches,” reads a press release.
Production, label, artist management and publishing company Handcraft Entertainment partnered with long-running Japanese label and entertainment conglomerate B Zone Japan, which signed Handcraft artist Anna Aya. Her debut single, “Someone Else,” was produced by Louis Bell and Michael Africk. The single was distributed by Virgin Music globally, with the exception of Japan. Aya is also a model who has worked with Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Valentino, Fendi and Louis Vuitton and appeared in numerous advertising campaigns.
The unnamed woman who filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine in November has dropped the case, according to a document filed in New York court on Thursday (Feb. 15). The case has been “discontinued in its entirety with prejudice,” meaning the woman cannot refile. Representatives for Iovine and his accuser […]
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Sony Music files a lawsuit claiming the Whitney Houston biopic didn’t pay to use her songs; one of Kanye’s new songs is pulled from streamers after accusations of copyright infringement; a federal judge orders Cam’ron to pay a photographer for using an image of himself; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Was the Whitney Houston Movie Out of Sync?
If you’re going to make a musical biopic, it’s important to sign a sync licensing deal. But it doesn’t mean much if you don’t actually pay for it.
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In a lawsuit filed last week, Sony Music Entertainment accused the producers of the 2022 biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody of doing exactly that. More than a year after the film was released, the label says it hasn’t been paid a dime for the use of more than 20 songs like “I Will Always Love You.”
Musical biopics are big business – 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody earned more $900 million at the box office and Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 Elvis made $288 million. But as we noted in this space a few weeks back, they pose a unique challenge that isn’t present for a run-of-the-mill true-life movie: you essentially must secure the ability to play the music of the star in question.
In last week’s lawsuit, Sony made a point to note that dynamic: “Unlike other types of films, musical biopics by their nature require use of the subject musician’s music, as it is nearly impossible to explain the importance of a musician’s creative genius or unique style and talent without the use of the musician’s music.”
So then what happened with Wanna Dance? Go read the full story here, including access to the actual lawsuit filed by Sony Music.
Other top stories this week…
KANYE SONG PULLED – Kanye West’s track “Good (Don’t Die)” was removed from Spotify and other platforms after the estate of legendary singer Donna Summer claimed that the song featured an unlicensed interpolation of her 1977 hit “I Feel Love.” Ye’s album itself, Vultures 1, was also briefly removed from digital platforms over a dispute with the original distributor – but still debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
CAM’RON’S CAMERA WRONG – A federal judge ordered Cam’ron to pay more than $50,000 to a photographer for using her photo – a famous shot of the Dipset rapper wearing a fuzzy pink coat and hat while holding a matching flip phone – on a slew of merchandise without permission. He’s just the latest in a long list of celebrities who have faced costly legal actions for using copyrighted images of themselves without paying the photographer.
CASE DISMISSED – Roddy Ricch won a ruling from a federal judge dismissing a copyright lawsuit that claimed the rapper stole key elements of his chart-topping 2019 song “The Box” from a 1975 song track called “Come On Down.” The judge said that Ricch’s song had “significant dissimilarities” from the earlier tune – a common sample in the hip-hop world – and that “no reasonable jury” would call Ricch an infringer.
RUSSELL SIMMONS ACCUSATIONS – The embattled music mogul was hit with a new lawsuit over allegations that he raped a former Def Jam video producer in the 1990s, the latest in a long list of public abuse allegations Simmons. Days later, the Def Jam founder was named in a second civil case – this time by a previous abuse accuser (former record executive Drew Dixon) over claims that Simmons defamed her by suggesting during a December interview that she was lying about her accusations against him.
SUSPICIOUS MINDERS? – Priscilla Presley is facing a lawsuit that claims she illegally turned her back on a former business partner named Brigitte Kruse, who claims she helped Elvis Presley’s ex-wife “dig herself out of impending financial ruin” and played a key role in getting the recent Priscilla movie made. Presley’s lawyer tell a different story, saying Priscilla rightly split with Kruse after discovering serious financial wrongdoing.
DANCE DANCE RESOLUTION – Fortnite owner Epic Games reached an agreement to end a lawsuit filed by celebrity choreographer Kyle Hanagami that claimed the gamemaker turned his dance moves into a lucrative “emote” that Fortnite players could buy. The deal with Hanagami, who has worked with BTS, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber and Britney Spears, came months after a federal appeals court issued a first-of-its-kind ruling that allowed the case to move forward toward a scheduled trial this spring.
GLORIA TREVI CASE EXPLAINED – Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi is facing a complex legal battle over renewed allegations of serious sexual wrongdoing involving her former manager Sergio Andrade – claims she strongly denies by arguing that she, too, was a victim of his abuse. To get you up to speed, Billboard senior editor Griselda Flores put together a deep-dive timeline of Trevi’s legal woes – go read it here.
A federal appeals court has overturned a massive $1 billion copyright verdict won by the major record labels against internet service provider Cox Communications, sending the case back for a new award to be calculated.
In a decision Tuesday (Feb . 20), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated the huge award against Cox over illegal downloading by its subscribers — one of the largest ever in an intellectual property lawsuit — on the grounds that part of the verdict was not supported by the law.
The ruling sets the stage for a new trial, but Cox could still be on the hook for heavy damages. That’s because, while the appeals court overturned the jury’s decision that Cox committed so-called vicarious copyright infringement, it affirmed that the internet service provider (ISP) had still committed a different type of infringement.
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Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group all sued Cox in 2018, seeking to hold the internet giant itself liable for alleged wrongdoing committed by its users. The labels said Cox had ignored hundreds of thousands of infringement notices and had never permanently terminated a single subscriber accused of stealing music.
The case was part of a string of such lawsuits filed against ISPs around the country. Charter Communications, RCN Corp., Grande Communications and others were hit with the same claims around the same time.
ISPs like Cox are often shielded from lawsuits over illegal downloading by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA. But the judge overseeing the case said that Cox had forfeited that protection by failing to terminate people who repeatedly violated copyright law.
Stripped of that immunity, jurors held Cox liable in December 2019 for the infringement of 10,017 separate songs. They awarded the labels more than $99,000 for each song, adding up to $1 billion. Cox eventually appealed that verdict to the Fourth Circuit, a federal appeals court that could overturn it.
In Tuesday’s ruling, the appeals court said that the jury had been correct to find that Cox had willfully committed so-called contributory copyright infringement — meaning the company had induced or authorized its customers to pirate the music. But the court said that the labels had failed to show that Cox committed vicarious infringement, which would have required proving that the ISP profited from the illegal downloading.
“The continued payment of monthly fees for internet service, even by repeat infringers, was not a financial benefit flowing directly from the copyright infringement itself,” the appeals court wrote. “Sony has not identified any evidence that customers were attracted to Cox’s internet service or paid higher monthly fees because of the opportunity to infringe Plaintiffs’ copyrights.”
Because part of the verdict was tossed out, the court ruled that a new trial would be needed to recalculate the damages award — this time, based only on the finding of contributory infringement.