IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT NEWS: Justin Timberlake’s ‘Damn Girl’ copied 1969 disco song, suit says, (Feb 18, 2016)

By Cheryl Beise, J.D.

A lawsuit filed yesterday by PK Music Performance, Inc., alleges that the song “Damn Girl,” written and performed by Justin Timberlake and Will Adams (pka will.i.am) on Timberlake’s 2006 “Futuresex/Lovesounds” album infringes the 1969 musical composition “A New Day Is Here At Last,” written by late disco artist Perry Kibble and recorded by J.C. Davis on the New Day record label.

Kibble was best known as part of the funk band A Taste of Honey, which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, according to the complaint. Kibble obtained a copyright registration for “A New Day Is Here At Last” in 1969. After Kibble’s death in 1999, Kibble’s sister Janis McQuinton inherited his rights to the song. In December 2015, McQuinton assigned all her rights in the song to PK Music Performance, which filed a renewal registration in the song in January.

A substantial amount of the music in “Damn Girl” is copied from “A New Day Is Here At Last,” and constitutes an unauthorized derivative work, according to the complaint. “Specifically, a substantial part of the drum, conga drum, organ, bass guitar, electric guitar, and saxophone parts in Damn Girl, were all copied from ‘A New Day Is Here At Last,’” the complaint alleges. The portions copied from “A New Day Is Here At Last” allegedly are quantitatively substantial and qualitatively important, including the introduction, rhythm, harmony, melody, and “hook.”

In addition to Adams and Timberlake, the complaint names several music recording, publishing, and distribution companies as defendants. “Each of the defendants copied, reproduced, distributed and/or publicly performed copyrightable elements of “A New Day Is Here At Last” in “Damn Girl,” and/or authorized the same, the complaint alleges. The defendants are accused of willful copyrights infringement. PK Music Performance is seeking injunctive relief, an award of actual damages plus the defendants’ profits, or statutory damages, as well as costs and attorney fees.

The complaint in PK Music Performance, Inc. v. Timberlake, was filed in the federal district court in New York City on February 17, 2016.

The case is No. 1:16-cv-01215

Attorneys: Steven M. Lester (La Reddola Lester & Associates, LLP) for PK Music Performance, Inc.

Companies: PK Music Performance, Inc.; Zomba Recording LLC; Arista US Holdings, Inc.; Sony Music Entertainment; Universal Music – Z Tunes LLC; I.Am.Composing, LLC; BMG Rights Management (US) LLC; Will I Am Music, Inc.; Tennman Productions, LLC

News: Copyright NewYorkNews