Cameo Clips

Conversations between Detroit officials who met with artist and concert representatives prior to a show at Joe Louis Arena constituted 'oral communications' within the meaning of the Federal Wiretap Act, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has held. Bowens v. Aftermath Entertainment, 02-40170. The meeting had been held to discuss city concerns over allegedly obscene material in a video to be played before the concert, which featured rap artists Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and Eminem. The mayor's press secretary had asked that the meeting be private, but tour representatives taped the conversation with hidden audio and video equipment. The city officials filed suit over release of the conversation tapes in a DVD of the concert. The defendants moved to dismiss, but the district court noted that 'it appears from Plaintiffs' allegations that Defendants agreed to a private conversation with Plaintiffs, only City Officials and Tour Representatives were present in the meeting room, and the public was excluded. These circumstances constitute facts sufficient to establish that Plaintiffs had an objectively reasonable expectation that their conversations with Tour Representatives would be free from interception.' The defendants argued that the one-party consent exception to the Federal Wiretap Act applied because, as meeting participants, they had allowed the recordings to be made. But the court found that the exception didn't apply because the defendants had acted with a tortuous purpose by recording the meeting in order to misappropriate the plaintiffs' likenesses.