Article by Clyde Shuman
A U.S. district court in South Carolina granted in part the motion of defendants Kanye West, Getting Out Our Dreams, II, LLC, Def Jam Recordings, and UMG Recordings, Inc.’s (collectively “Defendants”) for judgment on the pleadings in a lawsuit stemming from Defendants’ alleged unlawful sampling of a girl praying, for use on West’s “The Life of Pablo” album. Specifically, in Andrew Green et al. v. Kanye West et al., case number 2:19-cv-00366 (D.S.C.), the court dismissed copyright infringement claims brought by one plaintiff, concluding that the plaintiff was not registered as the owner of the copyrights at issue, and also dismissed a quantum meruit claim as preempted by the other Copyright Act claims at issue.
By way of background, the case revolves around alleged unlawful sampling of a girl praying, which appears at the outset on the opening track of West’s album. The girl’s biological mother filmed the girl praying over a relative using the girl’s cellphone and uploaded the clip to Instagram where, according to plaintiffs, the clip garnered thousands of views. An attorney for all Defendants requested permission to use the audio from the uploaded prayer clips.
The girl’s biological mother agreed to preliminarily allow West to use the audio samples in a song in his upcoming album, provided she receive later payment. The samples are featured in the cut “Ultralight Beam” on West’s album, “The Life of Pablo.” In addition, per Plaintiffs, West has performed “Ultralight Beam” publicly on more than one occasion. Plaintiffs allege they are not listed as authors in the copyright management information for West’s album or the cut in question. To date, the parties have not entered a licensing agreement for use of the samples and Plaintiffs allege they have not been compensated for use of the works.
Plaintiffs, including the praying girl, her biological mother, the relative over whom the girl was praying and the girl’s adoptive parents, asserted claims for various forms of copyright infringement; falsification of copyright management information; wrongful appropriation of personality; unfair trade practices; and quantum meruit. Defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings, seeking to dismiss Plaintiffs’ statutory damages and attorney’s fees claim; the copyright infringement claims of the relative; the falsification of copyright management information claim; and the quantum meruit claim.
The court held that it was too early to determine whether Plaintiffs’ claims for statutory damages and attorney’s fees are barred, saying that questions of fact remained as to whether Plaintiffs had pre-registered the copyright in question before the infringement took place, as required. The court also held that there is “an issue of material fact as to when, how, and to whom Defendants allegedly falsely conveyed copyright management information,” which would have violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
On the copyright claims brought by the prayed-over relative, the court found that the relative was not registered as the owner of the copyright at issue. As such, she lacked standing to bring claims for copyright infringement based on that registration. The court discounted Plaintiffs’ assertion that the relative had filed an application to register the copyright in question, noting that a copyright infringement claim cannot be based on a registration application. (Citing 17 U.S.C. § 41 l(a) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 139 S. Ct. 881, 892 (2019)).
West released “The Life of Pablo” in February 2016, after performing the track in question, “Ultralight Beam,” at Madison Square Garden in New York City and on “Saturday Night Live.” The track received Grammy nominations for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song in 2017, according to the suit.
