A Texas eatery and its owner are liable for four claims of willful copyright infringement, based on their unauthorized public performance of musical compositions from the BMI repertoire, alleged BMI and five music publishers in a complaint Tuesday (docket 3:24-cv-06558) in U.S. District Court for Southern Texas in Houston. All the claims for copyright infringement joined in the complaint “are governed by the same legal rules and involve similar facts,” said the complaint against Saddleback Saloon in Sealy, Texas, and its owner, Thomas Mendenhall. BMI has reached out to the defendants more than 30 times since October 2019 in an effort to educate them about their obligations under the Copyright Act and “the necessity of purchasing a license for the public performance of musical compositions” in the BMI repertoire, said the complaint. Included in the correspondence were cease and desist letters, providing Saddleback and Mendenhall with formal notice that they must “immediately cease” all use of BMI-licensed music in the establishment, it said. The specific acts of copyright infringement alleged in the complaint, plus the defendants’ entire course of conduct, have caused and are causing the plaintiffs “great and incalculable damage,” it said. By continuing to provide unauthorized public performances of works in the BMI repertoire at the establishment, the defendants “threaten to continue committing copyright infringement,” it said. Unless the court restrains the defendants from committing further acts of copyright infringement, the plaintiffs “will suffer irreparable injury for which they have no adequate remedy at law,” it said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Payne for Eastern Texas in Marshall appointed retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal of Signature Resolution in Los Angeles as the mediator in the recording industry’s contributory copyright infringement lawsuit against Altice USA (see 2404110048), said Payne’s signed order Friday (docket 2:23-cv-00576). Payne designated plaintiffs’ counsel to be responsible for timely contacting the mediator and defendant’s counsel to coordinate a date for the mediation, said the order. The mediation plan “requires the presence at the mediation conference of all parties, corporate representatives, and any other required claims professionals,” such as insurance adjusters, “with full authority to negotiate a settlement,” it said. The 54 record labels and music publishers allege that Altice has knowingly contributed to, and reaped “substantial profits” from, massive copyright infringement committed by thousands of its internet subscribers. Mediator Segal was a magistrate judge for 18 years in the Central District of California before retiring in 2020.

Fort Lauderdale resident Steven Lucas and five John Does have distributed merchandise bearing counterfeits or infringements of Otter Products’ trademarks “despite being put on notice” to stop, said the consumer tech accessories company’s Lanham Act complaint Friday (docket 7:24-cv-04176) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. Lucas’ conduct and that of the John Does is creating “a strong likelihood of confusion among consumers” who expect that merchandise bearing Otter’s trademarks will be "genuine," said the complaint. That conduct is causing Otter “monetary and other irreparable injury,” it said. The John Does' identities aren’t currently known to Otter, but they are associated with Lucas and have contributed to his “unlawful activities,” it said. Otter “will use its best efforts” to identify the John Does and “will amend its pleadings accordingly,” it said.

Salty’s Beach Bar in Lake Como, New Jersey, is liable for four claims of willful copyright infringement, based on its unauthorized public performance of musical compositions from the BMI repertoire, alleged BMI and six music publishers in a complaint Thursday (docket 3:24-cv-06558) in U.S. District Court for New Jersey. All the claims for copyright infringement joined in the complaint “are governed by the same legal rules and involve similar facts,” it said. BMI has reached out to Salty’s and its owner, Michelle Fontanez, more than 110 times since August 2022 in an effort to educate them about their obligations under the Copyright Act and “the necessity of purchasing a license for the public performance of musical compositions” in the BMI repertoire, said the complaint. Included in the correspondence were cease and desist letters, providing Salty’s and Fontanez with formal notice “that they must immediately cease” all use of BMI-licensed music in the establishment, it said. The specific acts of copyright infringement alleged in the complaint, plus the defendants’ entire course of conduct, have caused and are causing the plaintiffs “great and incalculable damage,” it said. By continuing to provide unauthorized public performances of works in the BMI repertoire at the establishment, the defendants “threaten to continue committing copyright infringement,” it said. Unless the court restrains the defendants from committing further acts of copyright infringement, the plaintiffs “will suffer irreparable injury for which they have no adequate remedy at law,” it said.

Eight content studios seek leave to serve their March 27 infringement complaint on William Freemon by alternative means and seek extra time to do so, said the studios’ brief Wednesday (docket 3:24-cv-00733) in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Dallas in support of their motion. The studios allege that Freemon is a “mass” content pirate who operates “an extensive and commercially scaled network” of illegal streaming services that offer unauthorized access to live channels and VOD streams of copyrighted movies and TV shows (see 2403280006). The plaintiffs are Amazon, Columbia Pictures, Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal City Studios and Warner Bros. Entertainment. Freemon’s co-defendants are the company and website domains that he controls and operates, said the studios’ brief. Freemon knows that he’s responsible for infringing the studios’ copyrighted movies and TV shows on a “massive scale,” it said. When the studio plaintiffs tried to resolve the case outside of court, Freemon refused to cooperate and “dubiously claimed” to have transferred the domains, “when all evidence establishes he did not,” it said. Now that the studios have brought their lawsuit, he “is evading service,” it said. The plaintiffs request a court order that service of the complaint may be made on the defendants by “alternative means of leaving it at the front door of Freemon’s residence” in Dallas, or alternatively, by electronically transmitting copies to the defendants, “including each of the website domains,” it said. The studios tried unsuccessfully to serve the defendants seven times at Freemon’s home, said the brief. The studios’ counsel also tried to serve Freemon through his former attorney, but to no avail, it said. Counsel also emailed Freemon the complaint directly to his personal email addresses, but he did not respond, it said. The plaintiffs ask that the court extend their time to serve the defendants to 30 days after the entry of an order ruling on their motion, it said.

Crafty Cat Brewing Concern is liable for three claims of willful copyright infringement, based on its unauthorized public performance of musical compositions from the BMI repertoire, alleged BMI and three music publishers in a complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court for South Carolina in Spartanburg. All the claims for copyright infringement joined in the complaint “are governed by the same legal rules and involve similar facts,” it said. Crafty Cat runs the Peach City Brewery in Gaffney, South Carolina. BMI has reached out to Crafty Cat and its owner, Aaron Burton, more than 80 times since December 2022 in an effort to educate them about their obligations under the Copyright Act and “the necessity of purchasing a license for the public performance of musical compositions” in the BMI repertoire, said the complaint. Included in the correspondence were cease and desist notices, providing Crafty Cat and Burton with formal notice “that they must immediately cease” all use of BMI-licensed music in the Peach City Brewery, it said. The specific acts of copyright infringement alleged in the complaint, plus the defendants’ entire course of conduct, have caused and are causing the plaintiffs “great and incalculable damage,” it said. By continuing to provide unauthorized public performances of works in the BMI repertoire at the establishment, the defendants “threaten to continue committing copyright infringement,” it said. Unless the court restrains the defendants from committing further acts of copyright infringement, the plaintiffs “will suffer irreparable injury for which they have no adequate remedy at law,” it said.

BMI and seven music publishers allege five claims of willful copyright infringement against the Outlaw Bar & Grill, a Tucson establishment, and its owner, Brian Crump, based on their unauthorized public performance of musical compositions from the BMI repertoire, said their complaint Tuesday (docket 4:24-cv-00269) in U.S. District Court for Arizona. BMI has reached out to Crump and the establishment more than 50 times since July 2021 in an effort to educate them about their obligations under the Copyright Act and the necessity of purchasing a license for the public performance of the protected musical compositions, said the complaint. Included in the letters and the emails were cease and desist notices, providing the defendants with formal notice that because of their failure to purchase a license, they must immediately cease all use of BMI-licensed music at the establishment, it said. The specific acts of willful copyright infringement alleged, plus the defendants’ “entire course of conduct,” have caused and are causing BMI and the music publisher plaintiffs “great and incalculable damage,” said the complaint. By continuing to provide unauthorized public performances of works in the BMI repertoire at the establishment, the defendants “threaten to continue committing copyright infringement,” it said. Unless the court restrains the defendants from further acts of copyright infringement, the plaintiffs “will suffer irreparable injury, with no adequate remedy at law,” it said.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Appeals Court will apportion 10 minutes per side for oral argument in Internet Archive’s appeal to reverse the district court’s finding that IA infringed the copyrights of four book publishers (see 2405230032), said the court’s notice Thursday (docket 23-1260). The four publishers -- Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley and Penguin Random House -- contend that IA, a digital lending library, has cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue and is a threat to their businesses (see 2312210065). Oral argument in the appeal is set for June 28 at 10 a.m.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Appeals Court calendared oral argument for June 28 in Internet Archive’s appeal to reverse the district court’s finding that IA infringed the copyrights of four book publishers, said a docket entry notice Wednesday (docket 23-1260). The four publishers -- Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley and Penguin Random House -- contend that IA, a digital lending library, has cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue and is a threat to their businesses (see 2312210065).

An Oak Grove, Minnesota, eatery and its owner are engaged in the public performance of musical compositions in the BMI repertoire without buying a license, alleged BMI and 13 music publishers in a Copyright Act complaint Monday (docket 0:24-cv-01851) in U.S. District Court for Minnesota. BMI has reached out to SRO Bar & Grill and owner Elise Chester more than 40 times since March 2022 in an effort to educate them about their obligations under the Copyright Act “with respect to the necessity of purchasing a license for the public performance of musical compositions” in the BMI repertoire, said the complaint. The plaintiffs allege four claims of willful copyright infringement, based on the defendants’ unauthorized public performance of musical compositions, it said. All the claims “are governed by the same legal rules and involve similar facts,” it said.