Judge tosses false advertising claim in suit against '12 Years a Slave' soundtrack

Composer Richard Friedman's lawsuit against Hans Zimmer's score for the 2013, Oscar sweeping drama '12 Years a Slave' has just lost several of its most legally threatening claims in U.S. District Judge George H. King's initial reading of the case.

Friedman's suit claims that his 2004 composition "To Our Fallen" was used without his permission to create the film's main theme. Beyond that, he argues that, because the theme was ripped off-of his own work, the soundtrack's promotion as "music by Hans Zimmer" is false advertising.

Fox defended itself with the ruling from Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film. The Dastar case concerned a company that had taken an old, World War II TV series produced by Fox that had fallen into public domain, edited it, and then sold the results to the public as its own work while failing to credit the original series. While the lower courts found the case in favor of Fox and awarded the company a hefty sum, the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 in favor of Dastar, arguing that "reverse passing off" rules can only apply to works not in the public domain.

In regards to Friedman's case, Fox argued that, because of the Dastar ruling, a plaintiff couldn't dress-up a copyright claim as false-advertising. While Friedman's attorneys claimed that Scalia's opinion in Dastar established that the opposite was true, Judge King ultimately sided with Fox's attorneys, stripping Friedman's allegations down to simple copyright claims.

Regardless of where you are as a company it's always good idea to get in touch with a qualified business attorney, especially if your business concerns copyrighted material, as soon as possible. A good lawyer can make sure your rights as a business owner are protected, and help you better navigate through the nuances of running a business.

Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

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