Cameo Clips

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled that a plaintiff in a copyright-infringement suit over a Kid Rock song failed to establish access, or that the works in dispute were substantially or strikingly similar. Landry v. Atlantic Recording Corp., 04-2794. Troy Landry alleged that a repeated two-measure, eight-second riff in Kid Rock's rap-rock song 'Somebody's Gotta Feel This' infringed on two songs Landry wrote. Granting summary judgment for the defendants, the district court explained: 'Landry's allegations, supported only by his affidavit, that the defendants may have heard his music are insufficient to establish access. Landry disseminated copies of his work to various music producers, but any conclusion that these producing defendants heard his work and somehow collaborated with Kid Rock and other performing defendants to copy it is highly speculative. Further, Landry does not contend that his music received nationwide distribution or achieved national acclaim on the music charts to support the allegation that the performing defendants had an opportunity to hear his work. ' Moreover, Landry's statements that Kid Rock could have heard the work [on the jukebox in a club] in New Orleans in 1998 does not address the defendants' affidavits that they completed their song and entered an agreement with the Atlantic Records in September 1997.'