French Montana has secured a partial victory in the lawsuit regarding his 2013 hit, "Ain’t Worried About Nothin’.” Judge Nancy L. Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois granted the rapper a summary motion to three of his five issues against producer Eddie Lee Richardson in a ruling, late last week. Richardson sued Montana for allegedly copying his copyrighted instrumental song, “Hood Pushin’ Weight.”
Despite the victory in those areas, Maldonado also denied Montana's claim that “any infringement was innocent or not willful.” The judge stated that Richardson’s claim for damages is still applicable in the 378 live performances of the song since April 2016. Unfortunately for Richardson, Montana claims that he made no money off of the live performances of the song in question.
French Montana At Coachella In 2018
Maldonado explained that the issue is whether a copyright holder “has an exclusive right to public performance of his copyright depends on whether his work is registered as a ‘sound recording’ or a ‘musical composition.’ While [the] plaintiff can pursue a claim based on distribution of his work under either type of registration, if plaintiff only has a ‘sound recording’ copyright, then he can only maintain a copyright infringement action for performances of his work by ‘digital audio transmission.'”
Tyiase Hasan, who represents Richardson, wasn't entirely happy with the result. He explained that Richardson had already conceded the three points in the lawsuit. “The infringement here is as plain as day," he told Law360. Dariush Adli of Adli Law Group PC, who represents Montana, recently told Law360: “We believe the jury will likely not find the infringement to have been willful because the undisputed evidence shows that plaintiff reached out to French only once, in 2013, about potential [infringement] and that French referred him to the music producer, Rico Love.” He added, “However, plaintiff did not sue Rico Love because the 3 years statute of limitations had run on that claim.”
[Via]
