Ben Simonson

MUSC 388
Case Brief

Tolliver v. McCants, 486 Fed. Appx. 902, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 13206 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2012)
Facts:
This particular case involves the upholding of a summary judgment given by a New York trial
court in June 2011. The issue arises from a dispute between the Black Eyed Peas' record
producer, James McCants, and Cleveland DJ and songwriter Orrin Lynn Tolliver. Tolliver
accused McCants of improperly licensing one of his tracks to the song My Humps. Tolliver's
song, entitled I Need a Freak, was copyrighted in 2002 and was licensed to the Black Eyed
Peas, and used as a beat for the song, without his knowledge. In his defense, McCants attempted
to prove that he also contributed to Tolliver's song, but failed to present enough evidence to
support his claim. Prior to this particular trial, the New York court granted summarty judgment to
Tolliver in 2009, saying that he was the owner of the copyright, and that McCants had infringed
by licensing without his permission. The previous verdict awarded Tolliver a total of $1.2 million
as a combination of profits McCants allegedly made off his licensing deal, and actual damages.
The Second Circuit granted a second motion for summary judgment. After failure to reach a
settlement, the New York jury returned the $1.2 million verdict in June 2011. McCants then filed
his appeal, which addressed the first summary judgment ruling. This case involves the appellate
court's decision over the conflict (1).
Issues of Law:
The issues of law in this case revolve around copyright ownership and infringement. McCants
pleaded that he had contributed to the song, and that Tolliver had signed over ownership rights to
his composition through a verbal agreement. This did not help his case, and the court stated,
Such an unwritten agreement could not have successfully transferred Tolliver's ownership
interest to McCants (1). This case demonstrates how far you can get in defending your use of a
copyright without written evidence of such. As part of this issue, McCants tried to prove that
Tolliver only wrote the lyrics to the track, and he didn't write the music (which was used in the
Black Eyed Peas track). Again, he was unable to bring forward any proof of this, and Tolliver
was already found to be the rightful owner of the copyright, since he was the one who had the
song registered.
The Decision:
The verdict of this case is the upholding of a previous decision made by the same New York
court, ruling that Tolliver was the copyright owner, and that McCants had infringed on that
copyright by licensing his song without permission. As a result of this, Tolliver was awarded
$816,877 in profits McCants made of his licensing deal, and an additional $368,704 in actual
damages.
Reasons (or Rationale) for Decision:
The Second Circuit ruled that the defendant had failed to present any evidence supporting his
claim that he was a co-author of the plaintiff's song. The appellate court also stated, McCants
admitted that Tolliver wrote the lyrics to the composition, and that McCants did not personally
make any contribution to the writing of the composition (1).

Other Sources Used:

1. Gold, Django. 2nd Cir. Upholds $1.2M Award Over Black Eyed Peas Track. Law360. Web. 6
November
2014.
http://www.law360.com/articles/355202/2nd-circ-upholds-1-2mawardover-black-eyed-peas-track