Saregama India Ltd. v. Timbaland, et. al (11th Cir. 2011)
Decided: March 25, 2011
Saregama asserted that hip hop producer Timbaland infringed its sound recording copyright by digitally sampling a portion of the Indian song “Baghor Mein Bahar Hai”. As a part of the holding, the court had to evaluate ownership and assignment based on the Indian Copyright Act of 1957 and the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. Prior federal cases have held, initial ownership of a copyrighted work is determined by the laws in the work’s country of origin. The court used the Indian Copyright Act to establish ownership. In addition to ownership, the court had to determine if the plaintiff had standing based on the Copyright Act of 1976. In order to make a prima facie case of copyright infringement, a plaintiff must show that (1) it owns a valid copyright and (2) defendants copied protected elements from the work.
After initial ownership was determined under the Indian Copyright act, the court did a comparative law analysis focusing on the successive assignments of the copyrighted work. The court concluded that the copyright laws of assignment were similar and would lead to the same result if U.S copyright law was used. After evaluating the scope and terms of the assignment held by the copyright owner, the court held the agreement only conferred a two-year exclusive right. After two years, the right became non-exclusive, and thus ceased being a copyright. Without an exclusive right, the first element of standing was not satisfied. Accordingly, the court did not evaluate the second element required to substantiate a prima facie case, whether Timbaland copied protected elements.
