So... here's the reality of this lawsuit as I see it.

Marvin Gaye's estate is running out of money because the royalties tend to dry up with time, but the lavish lifestyle of the dependents living off the money doesn't.

So....someone gets one of those AI apps that lets you play current hits and identify the song..... while doing that it "discovers" a song that sounds close enough according to the app, to one of the estate's copyright holdings.... hummmmmm????

Get a lawyer and sue the new writer for some astronomical amount.... oh lets just pick a nice round number out of the air..... $100 Million sounds good. Now... serve the papers.

New guy gets served, Whisky Tango Foxtrot!!!! contacts his lawyer after changing his underwear....

His lawyer contacts their lawyer and they "do lunch". This is a baseless lawsuit.... you know it and I know it..... yes but, will the jury see it that way? The jury might thing it's blatant and award damages and penalties and a cut of all your client's catalog. Yeah, you have a point.... Lets settle.... OK.... how's $10 Million sound? I'll run it by my clients.... nope they want $20M to settle.... My client will give $15M and not a dollar more.... Agreed... deal is done. Everyone gets paid and almost everyone is happy.

$15 Million as a settlement isn't a bad payday when there was very little real chance to win, but accounting for juries is tricky at best so settlements are the answer.

Writer goes on writing new songs and somewhere out there, a different broke, faded star, is using Siri to search the new music catalogs.......

And that's how the wheels of commerce are greased.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 07/02/18 05:02 AM.
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