Credit:PWInsider
There will be a hearing on 4/2 regarding the ongoing lawsuit from musician Anthony Dash against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and WWE, among others, for Mayweather allegedly using Dash's music to come to the ring without permission.
The hearing will determine a WWE request for Summary Judgment Regarding Dash's claims to entitlement regarding copyright damages from their use of the song at Wrestlemania 24 and Monday Night Raw as well as a summary judgment on Dash's alleged lost profits due to the use.
Dash's lawsuit claims that in 2005, he created a musical track titled "Tony Gunz Beat." The lawsuit alleges that Mayweather, in his Wrestlemania 24 bout against The Big Show in March 2008, using theme music titled "Yep" and later used the song on a Raw broadcast.
Dash's lawsuit claimed the track, "is music that includes Plaintiff's Tony Gunz Beat track, with lyrics added to the track." The lawsuit later refers to the words as "explicit lyrics" added by the defendants. The lawsuit filing does not (to the best of my research) attempt to explain how Dash's work may have be misappropriated and turned into the theme music, but Dash claims he owns the filed copyright on the original music.
WWE has claimed they initially planned to play a 50 Cent song for Mayweather's entrance but the night before the PPV, Mayweather’s manager, Leonard Ellerbe gave WWE’s Vice President, Music, Neil Lawi a CD of the contested song and requested the company play that instead. Mayweather's reps claimed he owned the rights to the music and gave WWE express permission to reproduce it in conjunction with the Wrestlemania release.
WWE noted that Mayweather confirmed this during statements made during the legal process and that Lawi has already stated on record that the company was not aware of any copyright issues until well after the event took place as Dash did not file any claims until after they had taken place.
Dash has claimed that the defendants have made "millions of dollars" from his copyrighted work and requested an accounting of "all gains, profits and advantages from their act of infringement". Dash's suit alleged that despite numerous cease and desist orders sent to Mayweather, the usage of the track has continued via online videos and DVD sales.
Dash is asking for $150,000 per copyrighted work infringed as well as preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to stop the Defendant's "ongoing infringement of Plaintiff's copyright." The suit also calls for any and all copies of the Plaintiff's works be destroyed "or otherwise appropriately disposed of."
WWE has quietly stopped producing the Wrestlemania 24 DVD while the legal situation is ongoing.
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