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Cameo Clips

By Stan Soocher
October 28, 2011

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT/GRAND RIGHTS IN PLAYS

The U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Michigan denied a motion to dismiss a suit that alleges copyright infringement through inclusion of a medley of Sam Cooke songs in an intro segment to a stage play based on the late singer's life. ABKCO Music Inc. v. Washington, 11-10763. ABKCO Music, which controls copyrights in Sam Cooke's songs and sound recordings, had turned down a request to license the “grand” (i.e., dramatic) rights for use of Cooke's music in The Triumph and Tragedy of a Soul Stirrer ' The Life of Sam. Instead, the play's producer, Johnnie Washington, hired vocalist David Watkins to sing a Sam Cooke medley in front of the stage curtain while audience members were being seated for Life of Sam shows at a theater in Detroit. (The medley also contained a song written by Bobby Womack, whose publishing rights-holder joined with ABKCO in suing Washington and playwright Robert Douglas.)

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