Legal News
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A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Madison Square Garden executive James Dolan of pressuring a masseuse into unwanted sex while his band toured with the Eagles, though elements of the case will likely continue in state court.
Kellye Croft sued Dolan earlier this year, claiming he repeatedly coerced her into “unlawful and unwelcome sex acts” during the 2013 tour. The lawsuit also included assault allegations against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, claiming Dolan facilitated the incident with the convicted rapist.
But in a ruling Tuesday, Judge Percy Anderson permanently dismissed Croft’s only federal allegation — a claim that Dolan had violated federal sex trafficking laws. The judge said Croft had failed to meet the basic requirements to sue under the statute.
The case also includes separate state-law accusations, including claims of sexual battery and aiding and abetting of sexual assault against Dolan and a claim of sexual assault against Weinstein. But without any federal claims remaining, Anderson ruled Tuesday that he no longer had jurisdiction to hear the case.
The decision means that the current case in federal court is over, but that Croft can re-file her other allegations in New York state court. In a statement Wednesday, her attorneys vowed to do so, saying that their “fight for Ms. Croft is just beginning.”
“We respectfully disagree with the district court’s decision, which we believe incorrectly interprets the federal sex trafficking law and undermines critically important protections for sex trafficking survivors,” said Kevin Mintzer and Meredith Firetog of the law firm Wigdor, adding that they would appeal that decision. “We will also continue to pursue Ms. Croft’s sexual battery claims against James Dolan and Harvey Weinstein, which remain unaffected by the decision.”
In his own statement, a spokesperson for Dolan said, “We are very pleased with the dismissal of the lawsuit, which was a malicious attempt to assert horrific allegations by an attorney who subverts the legal system for personal gain.”
Croft sued in January, claiming she had been hired to serve as a massage therapist for Glenn Frey during the 2013 tour, on which Dolan’s band (JD & The Straight Shot) opened for Eagles. She says she thought the job was the “opportunity of a lifetime,” but that she quickly realized the real reason she was there: “Dolan was extremely assertive, and pressured Ms. Croft into unwanted sexual intercourse.”
Dolan, whose company also owns Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall, the Las Vegas Sphere and other prominent music venues, has strongly denied the allegations, calling Croft an “opportunist” who is “looking for a quick payday.”
One key legal allegation in the lawsuit was that Dolan and others violated a federal sex trafficking statute — namely, by fraudulently transporting her across state lines for purposes of providing forced sexual favors to Dolan. That claim was dismissed by Anderson earlier this year, but he then gave Croft one last chance to update her case with a viable argument.
In his ruling Tuesday, he said she had failed to do so. The federal sex trafficking law requires a “commercial sex act,” and the judge said that Croft had failed to allege that her sexual relationship with Dolan was the direct result of his promises of career advancement.
“Plaintiff [claims she] received promises from Dolan that she would be invited on the Eagles’ European tour and could potentially receive work as a massage therapist for tours at Madison Square Garden,” the judge wrote. “While the [lawsuit] alleges that plaintiff may have hoped to obtain a future career benefit from her relationship, it fails to directly allege that she went to Dolan’s room and continued to engage in a sexual relationship with him in order to receive the alleged promised benefits.”
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: Diddy faces a sweeping criminal indictment that accuses him of decades of sexual abuse; Miley Cyrus gets hit with a copyright lawsuit over allegations that her chart-topping “Flowers” infringed a Bruno Mars track; Eddy Grant wins his case against Donald Trump over the use of “Electric Avenue” in a campaign video; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Diddy’s Downfall
Less than a year after news broke about a civil lawsuit containing brutal accusations of sexual abuse against Sean “Diddy” Combs, the other shoe has finally dropped.
The once-powerful rapper was arrested in New York City on Monday night on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. When prosecutors unsealed the indictment on Tuesday, they detailed allegations of a sprawling criminal operation with a single aim: “fulfilling the personal desires of Combs, particularly those related to sexual gratification.”
“For decades, Sean Combs … abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” the indictment reads. If convicted of the charges, Combs is facing a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life behind bars.
Later on Tuesday, Combs was arraigned in federal court and denied bail, leaving him in jail until an eventual trial. The judge said Diddy posed a flight risk and was potentially a danger to others, swayed by arguments from prosecutors that he was a “serial abuser” who had a history of both violence and witness intimidation.
In many ways, the charges against Diddy mirror those against R. Kelly, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2022 over a decades-long scheme to abuse underage women.
Like Kelly, prosecutors are targeting Combs under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal statute that bans criminal enterprises composed of multiple people. While RICO is best known as a tool to fight mobsters and drug cartels, the Kelly case proved that it can be equally effective at targeting a superstar musician who used his fame and money to build what amounts to a criminal organization – only one aimed at facilitating sexual abuse.
And like the Kelly case, the indictment of Combs has led to tough questions about why it took so long for law enforcement to act. When asked directly at Tuesday’s press conference, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams demurred: “I can’t tell you why it took so long. I think the better focus is on the fact that we are here today and we are committed to making sure that justice is done.”
For more on the case, go read our full story on Combs’ indictment, including access to the charging documents and statements from prosecutors, as well as our coverage on the bail hearing. And stay tuned as the case unfolds, because Billboard will be keeping you updated with every development.
THE OTHER BIG STORY: I Can Write My Own Songs?
Nearly two years after fans speculated that Miley Cyrus’ chart-topping “Flowers” was making pointed references to Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” a company that owns part of the Mars song is suing her for copyright infringement. The complaint was filed not by Mars himself but by an entity called Tempo Music Investments that bought a share of the copyright to his song from one of its co-writers. In it, lawyers for that group claim the two songs have “striking similarities.” Whether or not they’re “striking,” the songs have clear connections. In the time-honored tradition of an “answer song,” Cyrus inverted Mars’ lyrics and seemed to repeatedly rebut them – in one instance telling fans “I can buy myself flowers” when Mars said “I should’ve bought you flowers.” The reason for the references? Mars’ song was apparently a favorite of Cyrus’ ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, and the theory goes that her repeated allusions were a reference to their split. At the time, legal experts told Billboard that Cyrus was likely not violating copyrights simply by using similar lyrics to fire back at the earlier song. This week’s lawsuit says the similarities go well beyond the lyrics, including “melodic and harmonic material,” “pitch ending pattern,” and “bass-line structure.” But experts remain skeptical. To understand why, go read our full story, including comments from copyright lawyers and access to the full complaint filed against Cyrus.
Other top stories this week…
‘ELECTRIC’ INFRINGEMENT – A federal judge ruled that Donald Trump infringed copyrights by using Eddy Grant’s iconic “Electric Avenue” in a 2020 campaign video without permission. Trump claimed that he made legal fair use of the song by using it in a video attacking Joe Biden, but the judge called it something else: “wholesale copying of music to accompany a political campaign ad.” Up next: A ruling on how much Grant is owed in damages. MORE DIDDY -Tuesday’s indictment overshadowed everything else, but it wasn’t the only Diddy Law story from the past week. The rapper was hit with a new civil lawsuit from Dawn Richard, a winner of MTV’s Making the Band who says he subjected her to years of “abuse and exploitation.” He also moved to set aside a $100 million default judgment won by a Michigan inmate, arguing he was never served with the “frivolous” sexual assault allegations and would have easily defeated them if he had been. DOLAN DEPOSITION – A federal judge ruled that Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan must sit for a deposition over the infamous 2017 ejection of ex-NBA player Charles Oakley from the Manhattan arena, ruling that the CEO “had a courtside seat” for the incident. Defense lawyers argued that Dolan, who also controls the Las Vegas Sphere and Radio City Music Hall, shouldn’t be personally dragged into a deposition, but a judge said the exec “likely possesses relevant knowledge that cannot be obtained from other witnesses.”RATE DEBATE – BMI filed a rate-setting case against SiriusXM in federal court after they failed to reach a deal during more than two years of negotiations, arguing the radio company is “no longer a startup” and must pay more to songwriters. Among other things, BMI pointed to SiriusXM’s increasing reliance on internet streaming rather than old-school satellite radio. “Digital music services pay higher rates to BMI than satellite radio, and the new SiriusXM rate should reflect this expansion of digital performances.”TAYLOR ENDORSEMENT – When Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president, the singer said she was spurred to action by her fears about artificial intelligence — namely, an incident last month in which Donald Trump posted AI-generated images that falsely claimed the superstar’s support. Experts told Billboard at the time that Swift could have sued Trump, but they predicted (accurately, it turns out) that the star would probably just fight Trump’s fakery with a legitimate endorsement of her own.PHARMA FIGHT – Johnson & Johnson was hit with a copyright lawsuit accusing the pharma giant of “rampant infringement” of instrumental music in YouTube and Facebook videos. Associated Production Music (APM) – a joint venture of Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing — claimed J&J released nearly 80 different internet videos featuring unlicensed music from its catalog.
A New York federal judge denied bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs at an arraignment hearing on Tuesday (Sept. 17), leaving the once-powerful rapper and music executive behind bars as he awaits trial on sweeping allegations of sexual abuse.
The charges, unsealed earlier on Tuesday, accuse Combs of running a decades-long racketeering conspiracy that included sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery. If convicted on all the charges, he potentially faces a sentence of life in prison.
At an initial hearing Tuesday in front of a packed Manhattan courtroom, Combs formally pleaded not guilty to each of the three charges he’s facing. His attorneys also requested that he be released on a $50 million bond, saying he’d surrender his passport and submit to constant monitoring.
But according to the Associated Press, Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky ultimately sided with prosecutors, who had warned that the billionaire executive still posed a flight risk and might intimidate witnesses if released. She ruled that Combs attorneys had not overcome the “presumption” that defendants in such serious cases should remain behind bars.
Combs, also known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, was once one of the most powerful men in the music industry. But he’s faced a flood of civil lawsuits in recent months over allegations of sexual abuse, starting with a high-profile case last year from his former longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura. That lawsuit quickly settled, but it was later corroborated by a widely shared video of Combs assaulting Ventura at a hotel.
In Tuesday’s indictment, prosecutors accused Combs of running a sprawling criminal operation aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” The charges detailed “freak offs” in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex with male sex workers, as well as alleged acts of violence and intimidation to keep victims silent.
“For decades, Sean Combs … abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment. “To do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources and the influence of his multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, both sides submitted detailed arguments to the judge on whether Combs should be detained until his jury trial, which could still be months away.
Combs’ defense lawyers said he was “eminently trustworthy” and had demonstrated “extraordinary” cooperation by flying to New York to allow himself to be arrested on Monday. They offered to post a $50 million bond, submit to house arrest with GPS monitoring, and even to sell his private jet.
“Sean Combs has never evaded, avoided, eluded or run from a challenge in his life,” his lawyers wrote. “He will not start now. As he has handled every hardship, he will meet this case head-on, he will work hard to defend himself, and he will prevail.”
But prosecutors argued back that Combs was a “serial abuser” who had a history of both violence and witness intimidation, raising the prospect that he might attempt to obstruct the case against him. They also said that he still posed a flight risk even under his proposed conditions, citing his “seemingly limitless resources” and the looming threat of a lifetime prison sentence.
“In short, if the defendant wanted to flee, he has the money, manpower, and tools to do so quickly and without detection,” prosecutors wrote. “The defendant’s lack of access to his passport or private jet would not negate the fact that the defendant could easily buy his way out of facing justice.”
Following Tuesday’s hearing before a magistrate judge, Combs is set for an initial pretrial conference next week before Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr., the federal district judge who will oversee the trial.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday (Sept. 17) unsealed a criminal indictment of Sean “Diddy” Combs over sweeping allegations of sexual abuse, accusing the once-powerful rapper of running a racketeering conspiracy that included sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery.
Less than a day after the rapper was arrested Monday in New York City, Manhattan federal prosecutors unveiled the substance of their case against Combs – accusing him of operating a criminal enterprise centered on his “pervasive pattern of abuse toward women.”
“For decades, Sean Combs … abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” reads the indictment, which was obtained by Billboard. “To do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources and the influence of his multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled.”
At a press conference announcing the indictment on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams warned that his office would target “anyone who engages in sex trafficking, no matter how powerful or wealthy or famous” they are. “A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City,” Williams said. “Today, he’s been indicted and will face justice.”
Combs, 54, is expected to be arraigned later on Tuesday at a Manhattan federal courthouse. At the press conference, Williams said prosecutors would asked the judge to deny release on bail and keep Combs in jail until trial.
A spokesperson for Combs did not immediately return a request for comment on the unsealed indictment. In an earlier statement following his arrest, his attorney Marc Agnifilo said he and his client were “disappointed” the “unjust prosecution” he was facing.
“He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said. “To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
The charges against Combs come after a flood of civil lawsuits in which at least eight victims have sued him over allegations of sexual abuse, starting with a high-profile case filed last year by his longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura. That case quickly settled, but it was later corroborated by a widely-shared video of Combs assaulting her at a hotel.
Criminal charges against Combs were not unexpected. Federal agents carried out raids in March on his homes in Los Angeles and Miami, and multiple news outlets had reported that he was facing an ongoing investigation that included potential allegations of sex trafficking.
In Tuesday’s unsealed indictment, prosecutors allege that Combs violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – a law known as RICO that’s often used to target mobsters and drug cartels. Over 14 pages of details, the government claims Combs operated a similar criminal racket from 2008 onward, but one centered “fulfilling the personal desires of Combs, particularly those related to sexual gratification.”
“Combs … used the Combs business, including certain employees, to carry out, facilitate, and cover up his abuse and commercial sex,” prosecutors write.
Much of the case centers on events that Combs allegedly called “freak offs,” which prosecutors describe as “elaborate and produced sex performances” between victims and male sex workers during which Combs would masturbate. They allege Combs and his associates “wielded the power and prestige” of his fame to “intimidate, threaten and lure female victims” into his orbit, then used “force, threats of force, and coercion” to get them to participate.
During the freak offs, prosecutors claim Combs and others kept victims “obedient and compliant” by providing them with drugs, then subjected them to “physical, emotional and verbal abuse,” including hitting and kicking them, threatening career repercussions, and blackmailing them with footage.
“Victims believed they could not refuse Combs demands without risking their financial or job security,” prosecutors write. “Combs also used the sensitive, embarrassing, and incriminating recordings that he made during freak offs as collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence of victims.”
When faced with the risk that someone would expose his conduct, Combs and others used similar tactics to keep witnesses and victims silent, prosecutors say, including bribery, kidnapping and arson. The indictment says members of the organization carried firearms, and that “Combs himself carried or brandished firearms to intimidate and threaten others.”
In addition to the RICO allegations, the indictment also accuses Combs of federal sex-trafficking laws and a federal statute barring the transportation of sex workers. The indictment does not make clear how many alleged victims were impacted, and Williams declined to offer more details on Tuesday.
Though Tuesday’s indictment makes repeated mention of other members of Combs’ organization, the rapper himself is the only person currently facing charges. But at Tuesday’s press conference, Williams warned that could change.
“We are not done,” Williams said. “This investigation is ongoing, and I encourage anyone with information about this case to come forward and to do it quickly.”
Miley Cyrus has been hit with a lawsuit that claims her chart-topping “Flowers” infringed the copyright to the Bruno Mars hit “When I Was Your Man,” setting the stage for a legal battle over two tracks that many fans already saw as connected.
Filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court, the case claims that Cyrus’ track – which spent eight weeks atop the Hot 100 after it was released in January 2023 – “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” of the earlier track.
The complaint was filed not by Mars himself but by an entity called Tempo Music Investments that bought a share of the copyright to his song from one of its co-writers. In it, lawyers for that group claim the two songs have “striking similarities.”
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“Any fan of Bruno Mars’ ‘When I Was Your Man’ knows that Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ did not achieve all of that success on its own,” lawyers for Tempo Music write. “It is undeniable based on the combination and number of similarities between the two recordings that ‘Flowers’ would not exist without ‘When I Was Your Man.’”
A spokesperson for Cyrus did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegations.
Tempo is hardly the first to note connections between the two songs. When “Flowers” was first released, many fans saw it as an “answer song” to Mars’ earlier track — with Cyrus directly responding to the song’s regrets. Where Mars laments that “I should’ve bought you flowers… take you to every party, ’cause all you wanted to dance,” Cyrus protests on “Flowers,” that “I can buy myself flowers… I can take myself dancing.”
The reason for the references? According to internet speculation, Mars’ song was a favorite of Cyrus’ ex-husband Liam Hemsworth and her allusions were a reference to their split.
At the time, legal experts told Billboard that Cyrus was likely not violating copyrights simply by using similar lyrics to fire back at the earlier song – a time-honored music industry tradition utilized by songs ranging from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” to countless rap diss records.
“This is great fodder for fan theories, but lawyers should have nothing to do with it,” Joseph Fishman, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, said at the time. “Using one song to issue a retort to an earlier song is not, by itself, infringement.”
But in Monday’s complaint, attorneys for Tempo argue that the similarities in Cyrus’ song extend well beyond the clap-back lyrics, including “melodic and harmonic material,” “pitch ending pattern,” and “bass-line structure.”
“Immediately upon the release of ‘Flowers,’ the public recognized the striking similarities between the song and ‘When I Was Your Man,’” Tempo’s lawyers write. “The combination of elements – both musical and lyrical – confirm that ‘Flowers’ copies extensively from ‘When I Was Your Man.’”
Following the filing the lawsuit, some copyright experts remain skeptical. On social media, Fishman said the merits of Tempo’s case were “weak” and that the musical similarities were rooted in commonplace song elements that also exist in other tracks like Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” or Ace of Base’s “It’s a Beautiful Life.” He also questioned why Mars himself was not involved.
Aaron Moss, a veteran copyright litigator at the law firm Greenberg Glusker, cited numerous other songs that “reply to other songs,” including “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division and “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille: “It’s not copyright infringement folks,” Moss said.
An attorney for Tempo did not immediately return a request for comment.
Diddy was arrested in New York on Monday night (Sept. 16) after being indicted by a grand jury on unknown charges, The New York Times and other outlets report. According to TMZ, Diddy was taken into federal custody at the FBI field office in Manhattan. The rap mogul (real name: Sean Combs) has been hit […]
The U.S. government and TikTok will go head-to-head in federal court on Monday as oral arguments begin in a consequential legal case that will determine if – or how — a popular social media platform used by nearly half of all Americans will continue to operate in the country.
Attorneys for the two sides will appear before a panel of judges at the federal appeals court in Washington. TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, are challenging a U.S. law that requires them to break ties or face a ban in the U.S. by mid-January. The legal battle is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was a culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China. But TikTok argues the law runs afoul of the First Amendment while other opponents claim it mirrors crackdowns sometimes seen in authoritarian countries abroad.
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In court documents submitted over the summer, the Justice Department emphasized the government’s two primary concerns. First, TikTok collects vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Second, the U.S. says the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.
TikTok has repeatedly said it does not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and that concerns the government has raised have never been substantiated. In court documents, attorneys for both TikTok and its parent company have argued that members of Congress sought to punish the platform based on propaganda they perceived to be on TikTok. The companies also claimed divestment is not possible and that the app would have to shut down by Jan. 19 if the courts don’t step in to block the law.“Even if divestiture were feasible, TikTok in the United States would still be reduced to a shell of its former self, stripped of the innovative and expressive technology that tailors content to each user,” the companies said in a legal brief filed in June. “It would also become an island, preventing Americans from exchanging views with the global TikTok community.”
Opponents of the law stress a ban would also cause disruptions in the world of marketing, retail and in the lives of many different content creators, some of whom also sued the government in May. TikTok is covering the legal costs for that lawsuit, which the court has consolidated with the company’s complaint and another filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc.
Though the government’s primary reasoning for the law is public, significant portions of its court filings include classified information that has been redacted and hidden from public view. The companies have asked the court to reject the secret filings or appoint a district judge who can ferret through the material, which the government has opposed because it will cause a delay in the case. If admitted into the court, legal experts say those secret filings could make it nearly impossible to know some of the factors that could play a part in the eventual ruling.
In one of the redacted statements submitted in late July, the Justice Department claimed TikTok took direction from the Chinese government about content on its platform, without disclosing additional details about when or why those incidents occurred. Casey Blackburn, a senior U.S. intelligence official, wrote in a legal statement that ByteDance and TikTok “have taken action in response” to Chinese government demands “to censor content outside of China.” Though the intelligence community had “no information” that this has happened on the platform operated by TikTok in the U.S., Blackburn said there is a risk it “may” occur.
In a separate document submitted to court, the DOJ said the U.S. is “not required to wait until its foreign adversary takes specific detrimental actions before responding to such a threat.”
The companies, however, argue the government could have taken a more tailored approach to resolve its concerns.
During high-stakes negotiations with the Biden administration more than two years ago, TikTok presented the government with a draft 90-page agreement that allows a third party to monitor the platform’s algorithm, content moderation practices and other programming. TikTok says it has spent more than $2 billion to voluntarily implement some of these measures, which include storing U.S. user data on servers controlled by the tech giant Oracle. But it said a deal was not reached because government officials essentially walked away from the negotiating table in August 2022.
Justice officials have argued complying with the draft agreement is impossible, or would require extensive resources, due to the size and the technical complexity of TikTok. The Justice Department also said the only thing that would resolve the government’s concerns is severing the ties between TikTok and ByteDance given the porous relationship between the Chinese government and Chinese companies.
But some observers have wondered whether such a move would accelerate the so-called “decoupling” between the U.S. and its strategic rival at a time when other China-founded companies, such as Shein and Temu, are also making a big splash in the West. Last week, the Biden administration proposed rules that would crack down on duty-free products being shipped directly from China.
For its part, ByteDance has publicly said TikTok is not up for sale. But that has not stopped some investors, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, from announcing bids to purchase the platform. However, even if such a sale would occur, it would most likely be devoid of TikTok’s coveted algorithm, leaving a big question mark on whether the platform would be capable of serving up the type of personally tailored videos that users have come to expect.
The political alignments on the issue are playing out in unconventional ways.
The law, which passed with bipartisan approval in Congress, had encountered resistance from some progressive and Republican lawmakers who voiced concerns about giving the government the power to ban a platform used by 170 million Americans. Former President Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok while in office, is now opposing a ban because that would help its rival, Facebook, a platform Trump continues to criticize over his 2020 election loss.
In court, free speech and social justice groups have submitted amicus briefs in support of TikTok, arguing it restricts the First Amendment rights of users and suppresses the speech of minority communities by disrupting a tool many of them use to advocate for causes online. Some libertarian groups with ties to ByteDance investor Jeff Yass have also filed briefs supporting the company.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has received the backing of more than 20 Republican attorneys general, former national security officials and China-focused human rights groups who are asking the court to uphold the law.
Donald Trump infringed copyrights by using Eddy Grant’s iconic “Electric Avenue” in a 2020 campaign video without permission, a federal judge ruled Friday (Sept. 13), rejecting Trump’s argument that he made legal fair use of the song.
Grant sued Trump in 2020 after the then-president used his 1982 hit in a social media video attacking Joe Biden. Grant said he reacted with “dismay” when he began receiving inquiries asking if he had approved the Republican candidate’s use of his music.
Trump’s lawyers had argued the video was shielded under copyright’s fair use doctrine, which allows for the “transformative” re-use of protected works in certain situations. But in Friday’s ruling, Judge John G. Koeltl sharply rejected that argument.
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“In this case, the video has a very low degree of transformativeness, if any at all,” the judge wrote. “The video is best described as a wholesale copying of music to accompany a political campaign ad.”
A spokesperson and an attorney for the Trump campaign did not immediately return requests for comment.
Trump has repeatedly faced blowback amid the 2024 election from artists who don’t want him to use their music. Beyoncé, Celine Dion, the Foo Fighters, ABBA and Sinead O’Connor‘s estate have all spoken out or threatened action, and the White Stripes and the estate of Isaac Hayes have both filed lawsuits against him and his campaign.
Four years earlier, Grant filed a similar case over Trump’s “wrongful and willful” use of “Electric Avenue,” a funky, reggae-infused track about the 1981 Brixton riot, named for a road running through that London neighborhood. The song reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1983 and ultimately spent 22 weeks on the chart.
The video at issue, shared by Trump on Twitter, featured a red “Trump” train outrunning a handcar driven by Biden, as audio clips of Biden’s speeches played above Grant’s 1982 hit. Grant’s attorneys said the campaign had refused to remove the clip even after they were warned — meaning that Trump was acting as if he was “above the law.”
Facing those allegations, Trump’s legal team argued that the video amounted to fair use, claiming the campaign had transformed Grant’s song into a vehicle to criticize Biden. In 2021, Judge Koeltl hinted that he would likely reject that argument on the grounds that it “misapprehends” how fair use works, but he said it was too early to decide the issue.
On Friday, the judge made good on his warnings, largely adopting the same rationale as his 2021 decision. He noted that Trump’s video “did not edit the song’s lyrics, vocals, or instrumentals at all” and had “offered no justification for their extensive borrowing.”
Trump’s attorneys had argued that the video had “transformed Grant’s original conception of ‘Electric Avenue’ as a protest against social conditions into a colorful attack on the character and personality traits of a rival political figure.” But the judge was entirely unswayed by that defense — saying that it would only count as fair use if Trump had used the song to attack Grant, not Biden.
“The animation does not use ‘Electric Avenue’ as a vehicle to deliver its satirical message, and it makes no effort to poke fun at the song or Grant,” Judge Koeltl wrote, quoting directly from his earlier decision.
Friday’s ruling means that Trump and his campaign have been held legally liable for copyright infringement, but it leaves undecided the amount he must ultimately pay Grant in damages. That issue will be resolved in future proceedings.
An attorney for Grant did not immediately return a request for comment.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is seeking to overturn a $100 million sexual assault judgment won against him by a Michigan inmate earlier this week, claiming he was never served with the “frivolous” lawsuit.
In an emergency motion filed Thursday, attorneys for the embattled rapper said he had learned about Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith’s lawsuit and massive judgment from media coverage – and that the case would have been easily dismissed if Combs had been given a fair chance to respond.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit against a prominent businessman, based on obvious fabrications, filed by a convicted rapist and serial litigant with an overactive imagination and a thirst for fame,” Combs’ lawyers write.
The huge award, issued by a Michigan state judge on Monday, was what’s known as a default judgment — a kind of legal award granted when an accused party doesn’t respond to a legal action. Court records show that attorneys for Combs never participated in the case nor filed any kind of response.
But in Thursday’s filings, they say that’s because they were never been legally served with the allegations – a crucial first step in any American lawsuit: “Had Mr. Combs been notified in a timely manner of these outrageous claims, he would have defended himself, as he is prepared to do now. But he did not have that opportunity.”
At a hearing last month, the judge overseeing the case said Cardello-Smith had supplied sufficient proof that he properly served Combs via certified mail, which requires confirmation of receipt. But in Thursday’s response, Combs lawyers say that the letter was not sent to the rapper’s primary residence and it had not actually been signed by him personally.
“Accordingly, the default judgment must be set aside,” lawyers for Diddy write.
Once one of the most powerful men in the music industry, Diddy has been hit with at least eight civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse over the past year, including claims by ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura that were later followed by a video showing him assaulting her. The hip-hop mogul is also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation after authorities raided his homes in March.
Cardello-Smith sued Combs in June, claiming the rapper had spiked his drink and sexually assaulted him at a party in 1997. But in Thursday’s filings, the rapper’s lawyers said the inmate’s allegations are “objectively unbelievable” and that “no lawsuit could be more frivolous.”
“Plaintiff alleges that he was sexually assaulted in 1997, but he cannot keep his story straight as to where this supposedly occurred,” Combs lawyers write. “Aside from the purported assault, plaintiff alleges a fantastical conspiracy between Mr. Combs … and numerous high-ranking Wayne County judicial and law enforcement officials.”
As attorneys for Diddy repeatedly pointed out in their filings, Cardello-Smith, 51, is serving multiple, decades-long sentences for a variety of crimes, including first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of kidnapping. The earliest he can be released from prison is 2036.
The lawsuit against Combs is not the first civil action Cardello-Smith has filed from behind bars. Last year, he sued a Detroit-area Catholic archdiocese, alleging he had been sexually abused by a priest and others between 1979 and 1993. The case was dismissed last month by state appeals court, which ruled that Cardello-Smith’s allegations were barred by the statute of limitations.
In their response Thursday, lawyers for Diddy said that same defense would also apply to the current lawsuit: “As ridiculous as the allegations are, if every word of the complaint were true, the action would still be completely nonviable because the statute of limitation on the claims asserted expired almost 17 years before the case was filed.”
BMI is taking SiriusXM to court after the two sides failed to reach a deal on royalty rates during more than two years of negotiations, arguing that the satcaster is “no longer a startup” and must pay more to songwriters.
In a petition filed in court today, BMI asked a Manhattan federal judge to uphold a higher royalty rate it has asked SiriusXM to pay – citing increased revenue for the radio giant and a shift toward more lucrative digital streaming.
“SiriusXM’s financial performance, and its expansion of its digital offerings, make clear it is no longer a startup in a nascent industry,” lawyers for the rights group wrote. “Yet, despite achieving its secure and successful position, Sirius has continued to pay songwriters — who create the music essential to SiriusXM’s business — at rates that are below those negotiated decades ago when satellite radio was an infant industry with an uncertain future.”
A spokeswoman for SiriusXM declined to comment on BMI’s case.
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BMI is a so-called performance rights organization that collects copyright royalties owed to publishers and songwriters when their songs are performed publicly, offering blanket licenses that allow for the use of more than 22 million tracks. When BMI cannot agree with a licensee like SiriusXM, either side can ask a federal judge to decide the dispute and set a reasonable rate.
In doing so on Thursday, BMI pointed to what it sees as key shifts in SiriusXM’s business model since the two last negotiated a licensing deal in 2018 – namely, an increasing reliance on internet streaming rather than old-school satellite radio.
“As a result of these changes, SiriusXM’s business has shifted and is becoming more akin to a music streaming service than a traditional satellite radio or broadcast radio,” BMI’s attorneys wrote. “Digital music services pay higher rates to BMI than satellite radio, and the new SiriusXM rate should reflect this expansion of digital performances.”
The specific terms of the royalty rate that BMI is seeking from SiriusXM were not disclosed in court filings because BMI said it was “competitively sensitive.” The new rate would cover the period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026.
In a statement announcing the case on Thursday, BMI said that songwriters “should not have to accept an outdated rate that significantly undervalues their music.”
“After attempting to negotiate with SiriusXM in good faith for more than two years, we were compelled to file this action given their insistence on underpaying the creators of the music that drives the majority of their business,” BMI president Mike O’Neill wrote. “We will continue to fight for fair and appropriate rates when we believe the music created by our songwriters and composers is being significantly undervalued.”
The filing of the new case was celebrated Thursday by the National Music Publishers’ Association, with president and CEO David Israelite saying the group was “extremely pleased” with BMI’s decision to “demand what’s fair.”
“Companies like SiriusXM have massive profit margins fueled by music creators,” Israelite said in a statement. “We fully support BMI in their fight for the value of songs.”
BMI isn’t the only rights group in a dispute with SiriusXM over its shift toward streaming. In a lawsuit last year, SoundExchange accused the company of using bookmaking trickery – namely, manipulating how it bundles its satellite and streaming offerings – as part of a scheme to “grossly underpay” royalties by more than $150 million. SiriusXM later fired back, denying the lawsuit’s “misguided allegations.” That case remains pending.
Go read BMI’s full petition against SiriusXM here: