The first is about a small firm that met the reality of trying to confront the big names in the business. “Sounding Off: Tiny Firm Accuses Disney, Warner, Other Studios of Patent Infringement on Film Soundtracks,” by Apodaca tells of Drexler Technology, Corp. and how they believed two patents of theirs were being infringed upon by “Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century-Fox Film Corp., Paramount Pictures Corp. and Savy Pictures Entertainment Inc.” These patents were for digital sound technology and data storage. As is turns out, the infringement happens to be the widely used, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) technology. In the end, a few companies offered to get the patent rights from them, but were declined. They also did not pursue any further after being ignored due to lack of funds.
It is my opinion that I believe this happens every day. We’re told to protect our creations and do the right thing, but still get taken advantage of by the big guys and “the system.” It’s not unlike such big companies to find the newest technology in order to beat the competition, so I do believe Dexler’s patents were infringed upon. The fact they ignored him also says something. Maybe they feel such a lawsuit wasn’t worth the time and negative image of fighting the little guys, but the fact that almost all of them neglected to talk about it says they’re probably guilty. That’s not to say it isn’t worth it to get your things protected properly because you never know whom you’ll be up against, but I wouldn’t give up if you were in this situation.
The second article I found was “Lionsgate Sued Over Music Used in LeBron James Documentary,” by Gardner. A little like the previous article, this is about Mason Hall’s original composition for his school that was put into a documentary without his permission. The problem here is proving the song actually was his and not originally by YaBoy, whose rendition is in the film. If you’d like to make the comparison for yourself, the article has links to videos with the songs in them.
After listening to the songs myself, I have to say I think Hall is just looking for some money. I’m surprised he would go after infringement for a song he created using the famous chorus melody from Steam’s, “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)”. They’re clearly different aside from the sports theme, rap genre, and the words, “we ready.” In conclusion…I guess I give Hall credit for trying, and it’s always doable if you actually believe your song was infringed upon, but be realistic. In this case, copyrighting your work would also have helped give that extra proof in trying to show the judge he had the song first.
Lastly, an article entitled, “EA Sued Over Soundtrack Infringement,” by Jackson mentions a song that was believed to have been placed in a video game without permission from the owner. Gerald Willis wrote a fight song for his school teams that went on to be placed in several NCAA video games by EA. Upon realizing this, he is now faced with going against a big company in order to get his asked $150,000 per infringement. If he gets ahold of them,
I believe if Willis can prove he is the original composer of the song like her states, and that EA never asked for permission, I think his odds of winning his cases are extremely high. Whether or not he’ll get his asking price is beyond me, but it’s a pretty good debate. Should the song be covered under copyright, it will definitely help his case. A possible videotaping of a game for the team he wrote the song for showing that his song was (and is) played at the sporting events since that certain date would also help.
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