The three different controversies I chose to write about
are: copyright in the Philippines, Sampling in Justin Timberlake’s “Suit &
Tie” and Red Bull’s false advertisement lawsuit.
In the Philippines politicians have been using music in
their campaigns without paying the artists or getting permission to use the
music. The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines noticed this and
sent a clear message to the Politicians. The message is simple: “Respect music
and song and music copyright”. The lyrics and melody of songs are protected by
copyright, this is owned by the songwriter. When people want to use this they
need to pay the songwriter to get permission to use their material. Copyright
law counts for everyone, politicians included.
Justin Timberlake’s mega hit “Suit & Tie” also got in
trouble with copyright law. This is for the use of a sample. 70’s R&B group
Sly, Slick & Wicked filed a lawsuit against UMG (Timberlake’s record label)
for copyright infringement. The song that was sampled was Sly, Slick and
Wicked’s song “Sho Nuff”. The song was released in 1973 and was produced by
James Brown. UMG paid for the use of the sample but Sly, Slick and Wicked said
that they don’t have the rights to use the vocal performances within that
sample. This is a grey area of copyright law but I personally feel like they
are just being greedy since UMG already paid for the use of the sample.
Red Bull energy drink was sued for false advertisement in
2014. They had a promotional campaign with the slogan “Red Bull gives you
wings” some fans were very disappointed to learn that after drinking Red Bull
they didn’t get any wings so they filed a lawsuit against the company for false
advertisement. The courts agreed with the fans and Red Bull was forced to pay
$6.5 million out to disappointed costumers. This highlights the reason for the
small text we see on the bottom of the screen during commercials.
There are always legal issues in the entertainment industry,
as professionals we need to know these things and make sure that we are covered
and everything is legal.
