Legal Opinion
Debra Laws v. Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., D/B/A Epic Records, a Delaware Corporation
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Decided May 24, 2006No. 03-57102PublishedCited by 104 opinions
1Opinion of the Court
BYBEE, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff Debra Laws (“Laws”) brought suit against defendant Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. (“Sony”) for misappropriating her voice and name in the song “All I Have” by Jennifer Lopez and L.L. Cool J. The district court found that Sony had obtained a license to use a sample of Laws’s recording of “Very Special” and held that Laws’s claims for violation of her common law right to privacy and her statutory right of publicity were preempted by the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101-1332. We agree with the district court that the Copyright Act preempts Laws’s claims, and we…
2Cases cited20 opinions
- Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc.Supreme Court of the United States · 1994
- Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation EnterprisesSupreme Court of the United States · 1985
- Mazer v. SteinSupreme Court of the United States · 1954
- Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1977
- Tom Waits v. Frito-Lay, Inc. Tracy-Locke, Inc.Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1992
15 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by104 opinions
- Tire Engineering & Distribution, LLC v. Shandong Linglong Rubber Co.Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 2012
- Facenda v. N.F.L. Films, Inc.Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · 2008
- Jules Jordan Video, Inc. v. 144942 Canada Inc.Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 2010
- MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 2010
- Melendez v. Sirius XM Radio, Inc.Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 2022
99 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.