College Sued for Allegedly Exceeding License
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Yesh Music, LLC ("Yesh") brought a case of copyright infringement against Gettysburg College ("Gettysburg"). This is the third in a string of cases brought by Yesh in recent months; we previously reported on other Yesh cases in May and August of this year. The case against Gettysburg is for allegedly exceeding the scope of a license agreement between Gettysburg and Yesh.
In its complaint, Yesh asserts that Gettysburg entered into a license with Yesh to use a Yesh song entitled "Flood" in “[a] video detailing the goals of ‘The Campaign for our College.’” The song in question was synched to the video. The license indicates a "single use" of the song.
Yesh alleges that Gettysburg exceeded the scope of the license by synching the song to a second video entitled "Supporting First Class Faculty" (the Second Video). Yesh asserts this Second Video was contrary to the license terms, which expressly limited the use of the song to a single video. Further, Yesh alleges the Second Video did not “comport with the ‘Production’ or ‘Project Description’” outlined in the license, which itself is a breach of the license and is thus infringement under Section 106 of the Copyright Act.
Yesh also claims that Gettysburg failed to include copyright management information ("CMI") in the Second Video, and so the Second Video was only discovered after “significant due diligence.” Yesh alleges the failure to include CMI is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Yesh sent a demand letter to remove the Second Video the day it was discovered and sent an additional three demands requesting the video be taken down and/or disabled. Gettysburg allegedly "ignored the first notice, and outright refused to comply with every notice thereafter."
Yesh seeks an award for lost profits for violation of Section 106 of the Act, reserving the right to elect to recover statutory damages for willful infringement of up to $150,000. Yesh is also seeking damages for each violation of the DMCA in the sum of $25,000.
Four days after the lawsuit was filed, Yesh filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice.