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Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion have won a court ruling tossing out a lawsuit that accused them of stealing the lyrics to their smash hits “WAP” and “Thot Shit” from an earlier track called “Grab Em by the P—-.”
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In a decision issued Tuesday (Aug. 29), a Manhattan federal judge ruled that the lyrics Cardi and Megan were accused of copying in their songs — “p—- so wet” and “n—-s wild’n” — were simply too unoriginal to be covered by copyright law.
“The lyrics over which plaintiff asserts copyright protection are no more than common phrases, employed frequently in popular culture and other Hip-Hop songs,” U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter wrote.
“The concept of using ‘p—- so wet’ as a rhetorical device in a song is neither original nor unique to plaintiff,” the judge wrote. “Likewise, defendants have provided examples of at least three songs pre-dating [‘Grab Em’] which use some variation of the phrase ‘n—–s wild’n.’”
The ruling dismissed a lawsuit filed last year by Denise Jones, a rapper who performs under the name Necey X, against Cardi (Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar), Megan (Megan Pete) and Atlantic Records. Jones, who sued without the aid of a lawyer, claimed that the stars chose to “copy and paste” her lyrics into their songs.
But in Tuesday’s decision, Judge Carter said Jones not only lacked valid copyrights in those lyrics but that Cardi and Megan’s own words were not “substantially similar” to those in “Grab Em” — the key requirement for proving copyright infringement.
“Defendants’ lyric, ‘why you in the club with n—-s wild’n,’ poses a question to the rapper (or to the audience), while plaintiff’s lyric refers to the rapper’s effect on a single individual,” the judge wrote. “Thus, the phrase is used in different ways and has different meanings such that an ordinary listener would not identify defendants’ lyric as being appropriated from plaintiff’s song.”
The lawsuit also included additional claims beyond copyright law, including that Cardi and Megan had stalked and harassed Jones. But Judge Carter quickly dispatched those allegations as well.
“Plaintiff makes generalized allegations about fearing for her safety from alleged stalking and harassment by the ‘cartel’ that she equates to the music industry at large, but plaintiff neither identifies any negligent conduct on the part of defendants or any special duty to avoid causing emotional distress,” the judge wrote.
Jones did not return a request for comment on the ruling Friday.
Released in August 2020 by Cardi with guest vocals by Megan, “WAP” was a smash hit, spending four weeks atop the Hot 100. “Thot Shit,” released a year later by Megan, was partly inspired by the backlash that “WAP” had received from conservative critics; it reached No. 16 on the Hot 100.
Whether by coincidence, osmosis, common ancestry or, you know, theft, there are plenty of hit songs that sound strangely similar to pre-existing material… or do they? Enter the lawsuit. While some artists and songwriters shrug off similarities, others take it to court, demanding what they perceive is their due when it comes to alleged copyright infringement.
Of course, music history – especially when it comes to pre-recorded music – is rife with songs that were inspired by (or wholesale stolen from) previous material. Early rock n’ roll songs frequently lifted riffs, lyrics and chords from classic blues and country songs, which themselves were often based on folk tunes, African-American spirituals and work songs, nursery rhymes and even melodies from classical compositions. If you could time travel and track the authorship of songs as simple as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” or “Yankee Doodle,” the list of co-writers for each would probably run north of two dozen by modern standards of crediting songwriters for their contributions.
As recorded music became big business over the 20th century (and new technology made it easier to track song authorship and a writer’s exposure to previous material), copyright lawsuits became a regular occurrence in the music industry. But the litigation really took off in the 2010s, after a landmark lawsuit between the estate of Marvin Gaye and Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over “Blurred Lines” made things a bit more muddled (or blurred, if you will).
In the aftermath of the “Blurred Lines” case, many songwriters opted to credit scribes whose copyrighted material bore even a passing resemblance to theirs, assuming it was easier to give credit than deal with a protracted, expensive lawsuit. But more recently, many artists have started to fight back, fearing that settling with accusers was leading to more unjustified lawsuits. Led Zeppelin, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all won high-profile victories in recent years, defeating copyright cases by arguing that basic musical building blocks must be free for everyone to use.
It’s worth mentioning that technically, plagiarism (taking someone else’s efforts and presenting it as your own original work) is not illegal in the United States. If a dispute over a song reaches the courts, it’s over copyright infringement, not plagiarism, so the arguments over these songs are about whether someone ran afoul of copyright law. (Although most people tsk-tsk plagiarists, too.)
The songs on this list share two things in common: They topped the Billboard Hot 100, and some people believe they lifted elements from a previously existing song. Inclusion on this list doesn’t imply wrongdoing. Several of these disagreements settled out of court; one was settled without any lawsuit being filed; and one artist handily won their case against the accuser.
Read on to see how the rest of the songs fared.
“Come Together”
A federal judge in Texas ruled Thursday that the state’s new law restricting drag performances was likely unconstitutional, issuing a temporary restraining order blocking the statute from going into effect on Friday.
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Following similar rulings by federal courts on such laws in Tennessee and Florida, U.S. District Judge David Hittner ruled that Texas’ statute, called Senate Bill 12, likely violated the First Amendment by restricting free speech.
“The Court finds there is a substantial likelihood that S.B. 12 as drafted violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution under one or more of the legal theories put forward by the plaintiffs,” the judge wrote.
The ruling went in favor of a group of drag performers, drag production companies and non-profits that challenged the law. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, they argued that that S.B. 12 “criminalizes and restricts an enormous swath of constitutionally protected activity.”
Thursday’s order came as a temporary restraining order, which will only be in effect until the judge can issue a full written ruling. But the wording of the order indicates that he will likely strike down the law whenever he issues the more detailed decision.
Such a TRO, which can only be issued if a plaintiff proves they will suffer “irreparable harm” without one, was necessary because the law was set to go into effect on Friday.
“The court considers the impending infringement on the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights sufficient irreparable harm to warrant enjoining S.B. 12 while a final judgment is drafted,” Judge Hittner wrote.
Following the ruling, Paige Willey, spokeswoman for the Attorney General of Texas, told Billboard: “The people of Texas were appalled to learn of an increasing trend of obscene, sexually explicit so-called “drag” performances being marketed to families with children. The Office of the Attorney General will pursue all legal remedies possible to aggressively defend SB 12, the state law that regulates such performances to protect children and uphold public decency.”
A spokesperson for the ACLU did not immediately return a request for comment.
Passed by Texas lawmakers in May and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, S.B. 12 expands criminal restrictions on public performance of sexual conduct. The original bill included explicit references to drag shows, but they were removed in response to criticism. Instead, the final version bans sexual gestures that use “accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics.” Violators can face up to a year in jail, and businesses hosting events can be fined $10,000 for each violation.
Critics say such statutes, proposed or passed in states across the country over the past two years, are a thinly-veiled attack on the LGBTQ community. The new laws have been closely-watched by the music industry, over concerns that aspects of concerts could run afoul of broad new restrictions.
The ACLU filed its lawsuit earlier this month, arguing that – despite the changes to the wording – the new statute “unconstitutionally singles out drag.” They said it was also “sweepingly overbroad and vague and fails to give adequate notice of what it proscribes.”
“In its zeal to target drag, the Legislature also passed a bill so yawning in scope that it criminalizes and restricts an enormous swath of constitutionally protected activity, including theater, ballet, comedy, and even cheerleading,” the group wrote.
The suit was filed on behalf of nonprofit LGBTQIA+ organizations The Woodlands Pride and Abilene Pride Alliance; drag entertainment companies Extragrams, LLC and 360 Queen Entertainment LLC; and drag performer Brigitte Bandit.
Earlier this week, Judge Hittner held a two-day trial-like hearing on the arguments from both sides. A final ruling is expected early next week.
After Kenosha police officers mistakenly believed Jermelle English Jr. was involved in a hit-and-run incident and arrested him at a Kenosha, Wisc., Applebees in July, Jay-Z’s Team ROC — Roc Nation’s philanthropic and social justice arm — has hired attorney Alex Spiro to get all charges dropped in the upcoming case.
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According to ABC WISN 12, cell phone footage caught Kenosha police officers approached English inside the restaurant and accused him of being a suspect in the car crash. Despite vehemently denying his involvement, authorities pinned him down to the ground while he held his 1-year-old child. Witnesses told police the suspects involved in the hit-and-run included two Black men and a woman carrying a child heading toward a local Applebee’s. Officers believed English was the culprit and aimed to pull the baby out of his hands while attacking him on the ground. According to the Associated Press, the video appears to show one of the officers punching English.
Though police later learned English and his family were not involved, Kenosha police charged him with disorderly conduct, resisting and obstructing an officer. The woman who was with him received the exact same charges, along with possession of marijuana. The actual culprits were later found and apprehended in the restaurant’s bathroom.
According to ABC and NBC News, the Kenosha police have launched an internal investigation into the incident. Billboard has reached out to the Kenosha Police Department for comment.
“The reckless arrest of Jermelle English Jr. and the careless endangerment of his infant child by the Kenosha Police Department is an absolute travesty,”Dania Diaz, Team ROC’s managing director, said in a release. “The Team ROC team is here to support Jermelle and his family through this traumatic experience, demand justice and hold the Kenosha police officers accountable.”
Along with working on getting the charges dropped, Spiro will also work to “evaluate civil suits against those responsible,” according to the announcement from Team ROC.
This isn’t the first time Team Roc has aided the community of Milwaukee. In 2020, it helped coordinate a rally for Alvin Cole in Wauwatosa, who was killed by a police officer earlier. Team ROC paid legal fees for the peaceful demonstrators arrested and fined for their involvement.
Karol G and Tiësto are facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over their song “Don’t Be Shy,” filed by a Cuban-American songwriter who says their track features elements that are “practically identical” to his earlier tune.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Puerto Rico federal court, lawyers for songwriter Rene Lorente claim that Karol G and Tiësto’s 2021 dance-pop hit infringed his 2000 song “Algo Diferente” by using a melody that “sounds identical.”
“It doesn’t take an expert or musician, to carefully listen to the melody/sounds of each, to recognize that one was copied from the other,” Lorente’s lawyers wrote in their complaint. “In this case, defendants’ ‘Don’t be Shy’ is a blatant violation of plaintiff’s copyrighted ‘Algo Diferente’.”
Karol G, who is currently sitting atop Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart with her “Qlona,” teamed up with Tiësto to release “Don’t Be Shy” in August 2021. The song, which hit No. 4 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, was the Columbian star’s first released in English.
But in his lawsuit, Lorente claims Karol G and Tiësto’s song “misappropriated his beloved copyrighted work” – a tune released in May 2000 that currently has 3,647 total streams on Spotify. A version of “Algo Diferente” on YouTube, uploaded just nine days ago by CD Baby, has been streamed 6,423 times.
According to Lorente’s lawyers, a comparison of the two songs shows that they are “substantially similar” – the requirement to prove copyright infringement.
“Expert analysis of musical arrangement fragment of the copyrighted and infringing works, show exact rhythm, note arrangement, same intervals, harmony, with the only change being limited perhaps to the pitch, within 8 musical bars, repeated throughout infringing work,” Lorente’s lawyers wrote in his lawsuit. “However, for a lay listener and a jury, this combination of musical notes sounds identical.”
The lawsuit is seeking a whopping $52 million dollars, but attorneys who file lawsuits can claim any damages total they want. Even if Lorente’s lawsuit was successful – and that is not a given – such demands are typically not good indicators for what a judge or jury might ultimately award.
Reps for Karol G and Tiësto did not return requests for comment on Thursday.
Listen to the two songs below and compare for yourself:
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A Las Vegas judge reportedly denied an attempt to dismiss a countersuit filed by Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter against Melissa Schuman – a former member of teen-pop group Dream who has long claimed that she was assaulted by the singer. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news According to TMZ, the judge decided on […]
A tribute band that was sued by Earth, Wind & Fire for trademark infringement is firing back with a bold counterargument: That the famed R&B act has actually abandoned any intellectual property rights to its name.
In a court filing on Wednesday (Aug. 30), the smaller band — which calls itself Earth Wind & Fire Legacy Reunion — argued that the original group had allowed so many tribute bands to use its name without repercussion that it can no longer claim exclusive rights to it.
“Due to the unchecked third-party use of the phrase, [EW&F] has abandoned ‘Earth, Wind & Fire,’ and [the name] has lost its trademark significance,” wrote attorneys for Substantial Music Group, which operates Legacy Reunion.
The new filing listed out a dozen other tribute acts that allegedly feature “Earth, Wind & Fire” as part of their name, including “September: A Tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire” and “Let’s Groove Tonight: The Ultimate Earth, Wind & Fire Tribute Band,” as well as even simpler names like simply “Earth Wind & Fire Tribute.”
“[The band] has taken no action to enforce its purported trademark rights against any of the third-party vocal and instrument groups that have been using the phrase,” Legacy Reunion wrote in Wednesday’s filing. “The present civil action represents the first occasion on which Counter-Defendant has sought to enforce its registered trademarks against another party.”
Earth, Wind & Fire has continued to tour since founder Maurice White died in 2016, led by longtime members Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson and White’s brother, Verdine White. The band operates under a license from Earth Wind & Fire IP, a holding company owned by Maurice White’s sons that formally owns the name.
In a March lawsuit, that company accused Legacy Reunion of trying to trick consumers into thinking it was the real Earth Wind & Fire. Though it called itself a “Reunion,” the lawsuit said the tribute band contained only a few “side musicians” who briefly played with Earth, Wind & Fire many years ago.
“Defendants did this to benefit from the commercial magnetism and immense goodwill the public has for plaintiff’s ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ marks and logos, thereby misleading consumers and selling more tickets at higher prices,” the group’s lawyers wrote.
Tribute acts — groups that exclusively cover the music of a particular band — are legally allowed to operate, and they often adopt names that allude to the original. But they must be clear that they are a tribute band, and they can get into legal hot water if they make it appear that they are affiliated with or endorsed by the original. In 2021, ABBA filed a similar trademark lawsuit against a band that had been touring under the name ABBA Mania, calling it “parasitic”; that suit was quickly settled after ABBA Mania agreed to stop using the name.
According to Earth, Wind & Fire’s lawyers, the use of “Legacy Reunion” was not a clear enough distinction. The lawsuit cited alleged examples of angry consumers who mistakenly bought tickets for the wrong band, including one that read, “This was not Earth Wind and Fire. NO Philip Bailey or Verdine White. It was just a band playing Earth Wind and Fire music. I purchased 3 tickets and I was very disappointed. It was truly false advertisement. I want my money back!!!!!”
Wednesday’s filing came as a so-called “answer and counterclaims” — a standard response to any lawsuit, in which a defendant like Legacy Reunion can formally deny the accusations and level their own at their opponent.
In its counterclaims, Legacy Reunion argued that the band’s lack of enforcement against other tribute bands means that its trademark to “Earth, Wind & Fire” should be formally “cancelled.”
Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is facing a third sexual abuse lawsuit, this time from an unnamed woman who claims he assaulted her when she was 15 years old.
In a complaint filed Monday in Las Vegas court, a Jane Doe accuser identified as “A.R.,” claims that Carter sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions in 2003, when he was in his early 20s, including several times on a yacht and once on a tour bus.
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She claims Carter “knowingly provided alcohol and drugs” and then assaulted her “despite her repeated refusals and requests for him to stop.” The incident left her with sexually-transmitted diseases and other lasting effects, she claims.
“The impacts of Carter’s sexual abuse are ceaseless, causing plaintiff severe emotional distress, physical anguish, intimacy issues, and other complex trauma,” the accuser’s lawyers write.
Carter is already facing lawsuits from Shannon “Shay” Ruth, a woman who says he raped her on a tour bus when she was 17 years old, and from Melissa Schuman, a former member of teen-pop group Dream who has long claimed that she was assaulted by the singer.
The singer strongly denies the accusations and is countersuing both women for defamation, saying he’s victim of “conspiracy” that aims to “to harass, defame and extort” him by exploiting the #MeToo movement.
In a statement responding to the latest case, Carter’s lawyers called the new accusations “ridiculous,” saying they had been thoroughly investigated and rejected as “meritless” by law enforcement at the time — and that police even concluded that A.R. “could herself have been charged with a crime” over the incident. They claimed she was also later “threatened with criminal charges for filing a false police report” over a separate matter.
“Now she’s at it yet again,” Carter’s lawyer Dale Hayes Jr. said in the statement. “But repeating the same false allegations in a new legal complaint doesn’t make them any more true. Nick is looking forward to the evidence being presented and the truth about these malicious schemes coming to light.”
Like the previous cases, the new lawsuit against Carter includes graphic details of alleged sexual assault.
The lawsuit claims the first incident occurred in August 2003 on Carter’s yacht, where he allegedly “directed” the intoxicated plaintiff to a cabin and “engaged in oral sexual intercourse with A.R. and penetrated her vagina with his genitals” without her consent.
Days later, she claims that Carter’s sister “encouraged” her to meet him on a bus, where he “coerced A.R. to orally copulate his genitals.” A month after that, another alleged assault took place on the yacht, during which Carter allegedly “enticed three other men” to watch them have sex.
“Defendant Carter instructed these same three male friends to observe his assault of A.R. through a window hatch on the boat,” her lawyers write, adding that he “attempted to perform anal sex” on her during this incident “despite her repeated refusals and requests for him to stop.”
Later that year, the accuser claims she and her mother reported the incident to police in Pennsylvania, where she lived at the time.
In their statement on Wednesday, Carter’s attorneys insisted that police had cleared him of wrongdoing after that investigation. But John Kawai, the lawyer who filed Monday’s case, said in a statement that his civil allegations were not foreclosed by the lack of criminal charges: “Abusers can take notice that just because they avoided prison doesn’t mean they don’t have to answer to a jury for their actions.”
The other lawsuits against Carter remain pending, as does his counter-suit. Lawyers for his accusers pushed to dismiss Carter’s defamation case under Nevada’s so-called anti-SLAPP law, arguing that he was using litigation to retaliate against an accuser who was speaking out. But in March, a Nevada judge rejected that request and allowed Carter’s case to move forward.
A company that owns the rights to the “Space Jam” theme is suing a minor-league baseball club for using it – the latest in an increasingly active legal campaign to demand payment for a song that has been heavily used in internet memes and mashups for the past twenty years.
Watson Music Group, which bought the rights to “Space Jam” in 2019 from its original songwriters, has filed three federal lawsuits in the last three months, accusing companies of infringing its copyrights by using the song on the internet without permission. It’s also sent legal threats to an unknown number of others, arguing that unauthorized users must pay a “retroactive license” to avoid legal liability.
The latest target? The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers – a minor league affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers that Watson sued on Monday, accusing the team of briefly using the “Space Jam” song in a 2017 Facebook video. The 35-second clip, still live as of Tuesday, features the track playing in the background as the team’s mascot dunks a basketball.
“Despite plaintiff’s efforts and willingness to address defendant’s infringing activity, defendant failed to respond and plaintiff was forced to seek judicial intervention for defendant’s infringing activity,” the lawsuit claims, before demanding as much as $150,000 in statutory copyright damages from the team.
Performed by Florida hip-hop trio Quad City DJ’s, “Space Jam” was released as a theme song for the 1996 movie of the same name – a classic live-action/animated flick featuring NBA superstar Michael Jordan and the characters from Looney Tunes squaring off in a basketball game against alien invaders. The song plays during the opening credits, blasting its mix of pumped-up raps and bass-heavy dance beats over archival footage of Jordan’s career.
The movie was a hit, but the music was a smash. A star-studded soundtrack album, also featuring R. Kelly’s chart-topping “I Believe I Can Fly,” reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in April 1997. And while Quad City’s theme song didn’t reach the heights the group’s earlier “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train),” the track was also a hit in its own right, eventually hitting No. 37 on the Hot 100.
In legal filings, Watson (which also goes by Quadrasound Music) says it acquired the rights to “Space Jam” composition in 2019 from its original songwriters: Quad City’s Jay “Ski” McGown and Nathaniel “C.C. Lemonhead” Orange, as well as Van “Thrill Da Playa” Bryant of the closely-affiliated Miami hip hop group 69 Boyz.
Since then, the group has not been shy about enforcing those rights. On a website focused exclusively on Watson’s “100%” ownership of the “Space Jam” rights, a large-print banner reads: “Did you receive a notice from us?” Below that question, the site informs visitors that “U.S. copyright law provides large financial penalties for using someone’s copyrighted work without permission.”
The site then features a frequently-asked-questions section, warning readers that any use of the theme song on social media would require payment: “If your post contains any elements of the original composition ‘Space Jam’, you will need permission (a license) from Quadrasound Music.” Another question in the FAQ asks whether removing such a post, or offering credit, would suffice to avoid litigation. “None of these actions limit your liabilities as a copyright infringer,” the site answers, before explicitly stressing that copyright damages can reach $150,000 for a single infringed work.
But, the Watson website says, it doesn’t need to come to all that: “We would rather save you the expense and worry of litigation by having you work with us to resolve this matter outside of the courts by issuing you a retroactive license.”
Depending on how aggressive they want to get, Watson/Quadrasound could have plenty of targets to send those notices demanding payment.
That’s because, in the mid-2000s, Quad City’s “Space Jam” theme enjoyed a bizarre second act as a meme. Across early internet sites like Something Awful and 4chan, users published hundreds of absurdist “slam remix” videos, combining the track with other songs and video clips, often inexplicably featuring NBA star Charles Barkley.
By the early 2010s, the trend had largely faded away – most memes do. But dozens of slam remixes still exist on YouTube, and whole websites dedicated to the art of slamming are still live in 2023. During a late-night appearance in 2021, Tony-winning playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda heaped praise on Slamilton, a full-length LP splicing “Space Jam” with his musical Hamilton: “Kudos to the genius who made that. The internet remains undefeated.”
In a 2021 Billboard story recounting the long, strange history of slam remixes, Quad City member Jay Ski seemed to love the fact that his song had been meme-ized: “I feel so honored that the community embraced us and said, ‘Hey, let’s use this.’ Think about all the records they could’ve used,” he said at the time. “For ours to take on its own direction and own little world, that’s awesome.”
Do the creators of all those remixes have licenses to use “Space Jam”? Almost certainly not. So, is every one of them going to get letters from Watson, demanding they take “retroactive licenses” or risk costly litigation? Darren Heitner, a Miami lawyer who serves as the company’s outside general counsel, said he could not answer that question and that every case would be treated individually.
“I can’t speak broadly to whether our client is seeking payment from everyone who has used the content as part of a meme, given the facts vary on a case-by-case basis and there are instances where a meme may be commercialized or be used as part of a larger commercial enterprise,” Heitner told Billboard.
Heitner would not say how many legal notices Watson/Quadrasound had sent out, nor how much money the company typically demanded in licensing fees to avoid litigation.
“Our client’s policy is to send out a notice when it, with reasonable diligence, discovers the infringement,” Heitner said. “It has recently become much more active in policing such infringement with the intent to engage in thorough discourse with the infringer before escalating each matter.”
Over the past three months, the company has begun rapidly filing lawsuits against those who refuse to pay or ignore demands. In May, Watson sued SportsGrid, a New York-based sports betting media company, over allegations that it featured “Space Jam” repeatedly in videos and podcasts without licenses. Then in June, the company sued a Florida company called CPPM Leasing LLC, claiming it had used the song in a basketball-themed Facebook video in 2019. And now this week, Watson filed its suit against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers over its slam-dunk video.
Those cases are a far cry from suing every creator of a meme, of course. They target sophisticated business entities who chose to use a copyrighted song in commercial contexts to help promote themselves, not random individuals who mashed-up two songs for fun. But if you believe Watson’s own language, the company does not make that kind of distinction between different types of alleged infringers.
“Is an unauthorized version of the composition ‘Space Jam’ considered copyright infringement?” the company asks in its FAQ. “Yes (there are a few exceptions). Without permission from Quadrasound Music, you most likely are an infringer.”
A team investigating sexual assault allegations by the late founder of a powerful talent agency for boy bands has found the charges credible, calling Tuesday (Aug. 29) for compensation for the victims and the resignation of the current chief executive.
The three-month probe, which included speaking with 23 victims, concluded that Johnny Kitagawa sexually assaulted and abused boys as far back as the 1950s and targeted at least several hundred people.
The investigative panel said Johnny & Associates must apologize, strengthen compliance measures and educate its ranks about human rights. Julie Keiko Fujishima, the chief executive, must resign for not taking action over the years, according to the special team. Kitagawa died in 2019 and was never charged.
“The company’s coverup led to the sexual abuse continuing unchecked for so long,” investigative team leader Makoto Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “There were many opportunities to take action.”
Critics say what happened at Johnny’s, as the Tokyo-based company is known, highlights Japan’s lagging awareness about rape, sexual harassment and human rights. Public opinion has often been unsympathetic toward people who say they were targeted by sexual predators.
In the Johnny’s case, about a dozen men have come forward in recent months to allege sexual abuse by Kitagawa, the agency’s founder, while performing as teens. More people are expected to come forward, the report said.
Fujishima has so far only apologized in a brief online video for “disappointment and worries ” over the case. It is unclear whether she will resign. The company in a statement reiterated its earlier apology and promise to hold a news conference, once it had studied the team’s report.
While rumors of abuse at Johnny’s circulated over the years and several tell-all books have been published, Japan’s mainstream media remained silent. Kitagawa began his management career with the teen boy band the Johnnys before founding Johnny & Associates in 1962, which spawned a series of “idol” groups including SMAP and Arashi.
Serious questions resurfaced this year after BBC News produced a special segment focused on several people who claimed to be Kitagawa’s victims. Another turning point came earlier this month when the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights urged the Japanese government to take action. The group also accused Japan’s mainstream media of what it called “a cover-up.”
According to the allegations, Kitagawa asked fledgling singers and dancers, many of them children, to stay at his luxury home. When he told one of them to go to bed early, everyone knew it was “your turn,” those who have spoken up told the panel.
The boys were raped by Kitagawa when they were 14 or 15 and given 10,000 yen (about $100) bills afterward, the report said. It added that the victims feared they would be penalized if they refused. It recommends more people come forward, promises that their privacy will be protected and that no material evidence of a sexual attack will be required.
Those who have spoken out say they have been painfully traumatized, unable to tell anyone, even family, and still suffer flashbacks and depression, the report said.