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Yesh, It's Another Copyright Suit

Yesh Music Has Filed Suit against William Penn University

On January 2, 2021, Yesh Music ("Yesh") filed a copyright lawsuit against William Penn University (the "University"), a small liberal arts college located in Iowa. Yesh's Complaint alleges that the University violated Yesh's copyright in a musical work called "Anything You Synthesize" (the "Work") by synchronizing it with a YouTube video promoting the University's basketball team and athletics program.

Photo by Boscophotos via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

According to the complaint, when Yesh found out about the video, it first responded by sending the University an email explaining that licensing was required for use of the Work. Purportedly, when the email elicited no response, Yesh, through an attorney, sent a cease and desist letter that was also ignored. At some point, YouTube also contacted the University concerning the alleged copyright infringement.

Yesh filed this suit in order to recover compensatory damages along with statutory damages and damages under the DMCA for alleged removal of the Work's copyright management information. The University has not yet filed an Answer to Yesh's Complaint to tell its side of the story, but we will report on updates as they become available.

We have previously reported on at least one other case where Yesh sued a university for a similar use of a version of the Work.