Month: July 2016

A federal judge in New York sent a punishing message to persistent litigants seeking to prolong claims that have proved without merit: Just stop now. And, by the way, he told them, pay up for attorney fees for opposing counsel. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has ordered Mayimba Music Inc. to fork over $400,000 in legal fees and nontaxable expenses resulting from its curious copyright infringement case against Sony/ATV Latin Music Publishing LLC and Sony/ATV Discos Music Publishing LLC over pop star Shakira’s hit song Loca. The court found that Mayimba had presented dubious evidence and failed to prove infringement. A questionable victory Mayimba sued Sony in 2012 over Loca, asserting the song, which became an English-language hit, was ripped-off from Ramon Arias Vasquez’s recording Loca Con Su Tiguere. Mayimba won in a 2014 bench trial, with the federal court finding it had a valid copyright that Sony infringed. But in December, 2014, Sony moved to partially vacate that ruling based on newly discovered evidence: the recording company and its counsel showed that a key tape used by Mayimba was not created in 1998, as the court had been told, but more likely in 2010. The court found that this and other flaws in the case easily could have been discovered before presentation to a judge; the court also expressed unhappiness about the plaintiff filings and handling of the case. In April, 2015,...