Bob James v. Jackson (Madlib) Complaint PDF

Case 2:15-cv-02698-SVW-VBK Document 1 Filed 04/10/15 Page 1 of 12 Page ID #:1
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ALLEN HYMAN, ESQ. (CBN: 73371)

LAW OFFICES OF ALLEN HYMAN
10737 Riverside Drive
North Hollywood, California 91602
P: (818) 763-6289 or (323) 877-3405
F: (818) 763-4676
E: lawoffah@aol.com
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Attorneys for Plaintiffs

ROBERT JAMES and TAPPAN ZEE RECORDS, INC.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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ROBERT JAMES, an individual;

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and TAPPAN ZEE RECORDS, INC., a )
Michigan Corporation,
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Plaintiffs,
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vs.
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OTIS JACKSON, JR., an
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individual; KEITH ROMAN GREIGO, )
an individual; STONES THROW
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RECORDS, LLC, a California
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Limited Liability Company;
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APPLE, INC., a California
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Corporation; AMAZON.COM, LLC, a )
Delaware Limited Liability
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Company; AMAZON.COM, INC., a
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Delaware Corporation,
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Defendants.
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CASE NO.
COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT
INFRINGEMENT
(DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL)
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I.
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FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF
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(Against All Defendants)
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Jurisdiction
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1.
Plaintiffs assert claims for copyright infringement
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under the copyright laws of the United States (17 U.S.C. 101 et
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seq).
As provided by 28 U.S.C. 1338, this Court has original

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COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
PC-7:S:\Shared Data\PC7\BOB JAMES\INFRINGEMENT CASES\NAUTILUS\STONES THROW RECORDS\COMPLAINT.wpd
subject matter jurisdiction: The district courts shall have
original jurisdiction of any civil action arising under any Act of
Congress relating to... copyrights... (28 U.S.C. 1338(a)).

The Parties
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2.
Plaintiff Robert James (JAMES) is an individual and
is a citizen of Traverse City, Michigan.

3.
Tappan Zee Records, Inc. (TAPPAN ZEE), is a
corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Michigan
with its corporate address located at 8381 Timbers Trail Drive,
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Traverse City, Michigan 49685 (Secretary of State of Michigan
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online search, Ex. No. 1).
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4.
Defendant Otis Jackson, Jr. (JACKSON), plaintiffs
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allege on information and believe, performs under the name
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Quasimoto.
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that JACKSON is a citizen of the State of California and resides in
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Los Angeles County, California.
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5.
Plaintiffs further allege on information and belief
Defendant Keith Roman Greigo (GREIGO), plaintiffs
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allege on information and belief, is a citizen of the State of
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California, and which plaintiffs further allege on information and
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belief, resides in Los Angeles County, California.
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6.
Defendant Stones Throw Records, LLC (STR), is a
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California limited liability company (April 9, 2015 online search
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of California Secretary of State attached as Ex. No. 2) which
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identifies STR as an Active LLC with an Entity Address of
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London & Co LLP, 2800 Olympic Boulevard, 2nd Floor, Santa Monica,
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California 90404.
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belief that defendant STR may also be located at 2658 Griffith Park
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Boulevard, #504, Los Angeles, California 90039.
Plaintiffs further allege on information and
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7.
Defendant Apple, Inc. (APPLE), is a California
Corporation which business address is 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino,
California 95014 (Ex. No. 3, California Secretary of State online
search).
iTunes which offers digital music downloads on a pay per download
basis in the State of California, which has offered and which
presently offers for sale the sound recording titled Sparkdala,
which infringes copyrighted works owned by the plaintiffs.
Defendant APPLE is the owner of the entity known as
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Defendant Amazon.com, LLC (AMAZON-LLC), is a
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Delaware organized LLC which business address is 410 Terry Avenue
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North, Seattle, Washington 98109, and which is registered as a
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foreign LLC to do business in the State of California (California
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Secretary of State online search, Ex. No. 4).
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retailer that offers for sale and sells sound recordings through
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the internet in the State of California, and has and is presently
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offering for sale the infringing sound recording Sparkdala.
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Plaintiffs also name as a defendant Amazon.com, Inc. (AMAZON-
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INC), a corporation organized under the laws of the State of
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Delaware (Ex. No. 5) in that plaintiffs are uncertain as to the
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true owner of the AMAZON online sales entity.
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AMAZON is an online
Plaintiff JAMES History As A Composer And Recording Artist

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JAMES was born on December 25, 1939, and is
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presently seventy-six (76) years of age.
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B.A. and M.A. in music from the University of Michigan graduating
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in the early 1960's.
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10.
JAMES received both a
For over fifty (50) years, JAMES has had a
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distinguished career as a keyboard recording and performance
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artist, as a composer, and as an arranger in the jazz idiom.

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11.
For over a fifty (50) year period from the 1960's
to the present, JAMES has composed hundreds of musical
compositions, and recorded over fifty (50) record albums of JAMES
(and others) compositions and arrangements.
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JAMES has collaborated and worked with many notable
musical artists including among others, Sara Vaughn, Paul Simon,
Neil Diamond, Maynard Ferguson, and Kenny Loggins.
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In the early 1970's, JAMES composed musical
compositions and recorded seven (7) record albums for CTI Records
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(which after disputes arose in 1978, CTI Records and its affiliated
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publishing company, Three Brother Music, Inc. (TBM-INC), assigned
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all compositions and sound recordings created and performed by
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JAMES to JAMES).
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In 1977, JAMES was nominated for a Grammy Award for
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Best Instrumental Arrangement for JAMES recording and composition,
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Westchester Lady.
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In 1979, JAMES record album Heads received a
Grammy Nomination for the Best Album Package.
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The 1981 record album One on One by JAMES and
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Earl Klugh won the 1981 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental
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Performance.
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The 1985, JAMES record album Double Vision in
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collaboration with David Sanborn was on the Billboard charts for
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sixty-three (63) weeks, selling over a million albums, and was a
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Grammy Award winner for best jazz fusion performance.
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JAMES was the composer and performer of the musical
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composition Angela, the instrumental theme for the sitcom Taxi.
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///
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In the 1990's, JAMES collaborated on recordings
with Earl Klugh entitled Cool and Kirk Whalum entitled Joined at
the Hip with both record albums being nominated for Grammy Awards.
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In 2008, JAMES received the International
Achievement Award by the State of Michigan.

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JAMES is the founding member of contemporary jazz
supergroup Fourplay.
Best Group of the Year at the American Smooth Jazz Awards.
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In 2010, JAMES group Fourplay was voted
During the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's and continuing
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to the present, JAMES has toured and performed nationally and
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internationally.
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JAMES is recognized as one of the original founders
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of smooth jazz and his work is well-recognized for the complexity
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of JAMES compositions, arrangements, instrumentals and for the
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outstanding clarity and quality of the JAMES compositions and
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performances.
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It is from the legacy and repertoire of this
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distinguished artist JAMES fifty (50) year career that defendants
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have infringed (sampled) the JAMES performance (the sound
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recording) and as well therefore the JAMES musical composition
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Nautilus, in defendants use of their recording entitled
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Sparkdala in their record album entitled Yessir, Whatever.
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The Problems Confronting Hip Hop And/Or Rap Artists
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The Infringing Recording and Composition
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One of the problems that confront many Hip Hop or
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Rap artists is that they are unable to achieve an instrumental
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background musical sound quality for their works.
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they borrow or sample, therefore infringe the performance and
As a result,
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composition of others in this case, the copywritten works of JAMES
and TAPPAN ZEE.
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This complaint alleges copyright infringement by
the sampling, that is by the taking of the JAMES sound recording
(JAMES performance of) Nautilus, and the JAMES composition of
Nautilus, and using the JAMES musical composition and sound
recording of Nautilus in defendants recording entitled
Sparkdala by the artist Quasimoto, defendant JACKSON, composed by
defendant GREIGO and produced, recorded and distributed by
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defendant STR in the record album Yessir, Whatever.
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The Infringed Composition And Sound Recording
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And Their Copyright Registrations
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Plaintiff JAMES is the author of the musical
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composition Nautilus initially registered with the US Copyright
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office on May 16, 1974, Registration Eu 484341 (Ex. No. 6), which
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initial registration (Ex. No. 6) identifies JAMES as the author
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with TBM-INC, a publishing company, as the copyright claimant.
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TBM-INC was an associated entity with Creed Taylor, Inc. (CT-
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INC), a record company to which JAMES was under contract as a
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recording artist and under contract with TBM-INC as a composer in
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the 1970's.
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After disputes arose between JAMES and the record
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company, CT-INC, and the publishing company, TBM-INC, for which
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JAMES had been recording and composing, by an Agreement dated March
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21, 1978 (full Agreement recorded in the U.S. Copyright Office,
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Vols. 1655-1721, pages 219-342) (selected pages, Ex. No. 7), TBM-
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INC, the initial claimant of the copyright in the Nautilus
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composition (Eu 484341) and other related entities:

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...sell, assign, transfer and

otherwise set over unto Robert M.
James an undivided 100% interest in
all right, title and interest in
and to each of the Musical
Compositions listed on Schedule A
annexed hereto, including the
copyrights therein and thereto
throughout the world for the full
term of copyright protection,
including, without limitation all
renewals, substitutions and
extensions thereof. (Ex. No. 7,
Assignment)
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Exhibit No. 7 (page 3, selected pages of the 1978
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Agreement) identifies a Schedule A (U.S. Copyright Office, Vol.
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1655, page 220) which Schedule A lists the musical composition
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Nautilus, identified with the initial Copyright Registration EU
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484341, which by the March 21, 1978 Agreement was assigned to
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plaintiff JAMES, the initial author.
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30.
On March 30, 2015, JAMES obtained Renewal
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Registration RE 931-877 of the initial EU 484341 registration for
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the composition Nautilus (Ex. No. 8).
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The Sound Recording
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31.
In 1974, JAMES, as a recording artist under
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contract with CT-INC, recorded the sound recording Nautilus for
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CT-INC on the record album entitled One.
In 1974, CT-INC
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obtained a Sound Recording Copyright Registration, N 16776, of the
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JAMES performance sound recording Nautilus included in the sound
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recording entitled One (Ex. No. 9).1
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32.
Included in the March 21, 1978 Agreement (Ex. No.
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7) (Vol. 1721 at pages 251, 252 and 309 attached as Exhibit No.
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Though not clearly printed on the registration, a

comparison of the N 16776 registration and other documents
registered with the U.S. Copyright Office indicates the initial N
16776 registration was completed in 1974.
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10), CTI Records, a division of CT-INC:
...acknowledges that... James owns

all right, title and interest in
perpetuity and throughout the world
in and to the master recordings
specifically identified in Exhibit
4 annexed hereto... including any
copyrights or other property rights
which are vested or shall in the
future vest therein and all
duplicates and derivatives and
other sound reproductions thereof
together with all performances
embodied thereon free and clear of
any liens, claims or other
encumbrances... (Ex. No. 10, U.S.
Copyright Office Vol. 1721, pages
251-252; Exhibit No. 4, last page
of Ex. No. 10 identifies Bob
James One.) (emphasis added)
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33.
By the March 21, 1978 Agreement (Ex. No. 10), CTI
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Records assigned the copyright in the sound recording One (N
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16776) to JAMES.
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34.
On April 15, 1999, plaintiff TAPPAN ZEE, the wholly
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owned record company of JAMES, obtained a U.S. Copyright
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Registration for the TAPPAN ZEE digital remastering of the
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recording One, SR 264-212, which includes the digital remastering
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of the recording of Nautilus (Ex. No. 11).
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35.
On March 26, 2015, JAMES submitted a renewal
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application to the U.S. Copyright Office in the name of JAMES for
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N16776 (Ex. No. 12).
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36.
Plaintiff JAMES composition Nautilus and JAMES
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performance of the sound recording Nautilus contains material
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that is wholly original with plaintiff JAMES and is copyrightable
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subject matter under the laws of the United States.
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37.
Plaintiff JAMES has complied with all laws
pertaining to plaintiff JAMES composition Nautilus and JAMES

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performance of the sound recording Nautilus and JAMES has
lawfully obtained the copyright and renewal copyright of both the
musical composition (Ex. Nos. 6 and 8) and sound recording (Ex.
Nos. 9 and 12).
38.
Plaintiff TAPPAN ZEE undertook to digitally
remaster the sound recording One, which digital remastering
includes material that is wholly original with TAPPAN ZEE and is
copyrightable subject matter under the laws of the United States.
39.
Plaintiff TAPPAN ZEE has complied with all laws
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pertaining to plaintiff TAPPAN ZEEs remastering and has lawfully
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obtained the copyright (Ex. No. 11) for the remastering of the
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sound recording ONE.

Infringement
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Plaintiff JAMES sues all defendants for copyright
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infringement of JAMES musical composition Nautilus, which was
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initially registered as Eu 484341 (Ex. No. 6), and which renewal
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registration is RE 931-877, dated March 30, 2015 (Ex. No. 8).
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41.
Plaintiff JAMES sues all defendants for
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infringement of the analogue sound recording Nautilus included in
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the sound recording One, which copyright registration is N 16776
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(Ex. No. 9), renewed on March 26, 2015 (Ex. No. 12).
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Plaintiff TAPPAN ZEE sues all defendants for
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infringement of the remastered digital sound recording of ONE,
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which was registered on April 15, 1999 as SR 264-212 (Ex. No. 11).
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Identification of Defendants Infringing Acts
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43.
Attached as Exhibit No. 13 is iTunes Preview
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(internet download of April 9, 2015) indicating defendant APPLE is
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offering for sale the record album Yessir, Whatever, with track
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No. 10 identified as Sparkdala as performed by Quasimoto, which
recording Sparkdala includes the JAMES/TAPPAN ZEE recording of
Nautilus and JAMES composition of Nautilus and therefore
infringes the JAMES and TAPPAN ZEE copyrights identified in this
Complaint.
44.
Attached as Exhibit No. 14 is the AMAZON April 9,
2015 advertisement offering the sound recording of Yessir
Whatever which includes the recording Sparkdala as performed by
Quasimoto on MP3, Audio CD and Vinyl, which manufacture and
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sale infringes the JAMES and TAPPAN ZEE composition and sound
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recording copyrights identified in this Complaint.
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45.
Exhibit No. 15 is an advertisement by defendant STR
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of the record Album Stones Throw STH2326, entitled Yessir
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Whatever, which track No. 10 is entitled as Sparkdala, which
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upon information and belief was first released in June, 2013, which
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infringes the JAMES and TAPPAN ZEE copyright in the composition and
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sound recording of Nautilus as identified in this Complaint.
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46.
During the three (3) years prior to the filing of
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this complaint, defendants and each of them have infringed the
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JAMES copyrighted composition Nautilus and the JAMES analogue
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and/or the TAPPAN ZEE digital sound recording copyrights of
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Nautilus by the unlawful use of the composition and sound
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recording elements of Nautilus in defendants infringing
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recording of Sparkdala.
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47.
As to defendants JACKSON, GREIGO and STR,
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plaintiffs allege their acts of infringement were and continue to
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be willful and deliberate.
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///
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48.
Defendant and each of them have infringed and will
continue to infringe the U.S. copyrighted works of the composition
"Nautilus," and the sound recording of "Nautilus" by distributing,
performing, playing,
work,
selling and offering for sale the infringing
"Sparkdala."
49.
Plaintiffs seek recovery of profits,
income,
and
damages to the extent not duplicative, preliminary and permanent
injunctive relief and attorney's fees and costs.
WHEREFORE, plaintiffs pray for:
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1.
Damages and/or profits;
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2.
In the alternative, Statutory Damages;
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3.
For preliminary and permanent Injunctive Relief;
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4.
For attorney's fees and costs; and
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5.
For whatever additional relief the Court may deem
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appropriate.
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Respectfully submitted,
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DATED: April 10, 2015
By:
Allen Hyman
Attorneys for Plaintiff KLING
CORPORATION, INC.
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DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
Pursuant to F . R . C . P . Rule 38, plaintiffs request a trial
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by jury.
Respectfully submitted,
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DATED: April 10, 2015
By:

Attorneys for Plaintiff KLING
CORPORATION, INC .
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Case 2:15-cv-02698-SVW-VBK Document 1 Filed 04/10/15 Page 1 of 12 Page ID #:1

ALLEN HYMAN, ESQ. (CBN: 73371)

Attorneys for Plaintiffs

ROBERT JAMES, an individual;

FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF

(Against All Defendants)

Plaintiffs assert claims for copyright infringement

As provided by 28 U.S.C. 1338, this Court has original

PC-7:S:\Shared Data\PC7\BOB JAMES\INFRINGEMENT CASES\NAUTILUS\STONES THROW RECORDS\COMPLAINT.wpd

Case 2:15-cv-02698-SVW-VBK Document 1 Filed 04/10/15 Page 2 of 12 Page ID #:2

subject matter jurisdiction: The district courts shall have

original jurisdiction of any civil action arising under any Act of

Congress relating to... copyrights... (28 U.S.C. 1338(a)).

Plaintiff Robert James (JAMES) is an individual and

is a citizen of Traverse City, Michigan.

Tappan Zee Records, Inc. (TAPPAN ZEE), is a

corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Michigan

with its corporate address located at 8381 Timbers Trail Drive,

Traverse City, Michigan 49685 (Secretary of State of Michigan

online search, Ex. No. 1).

Defendant Otis Jackson, Jr. (JACKSON), plaintiffs

allege on information and believe, performs under the name

that JACKSON is a citizen of the State of California and resides in

Los Angeles County, California.

Plaintiffs further allege on information and belief

Defendant Keith Roman Greigo (GREIGO), plaintiffs

allege on information and belief, is a citizen of the State of

California, and which plaintiffs further allege on information and

belief, resides in Los Angeles County, California.

Defendant Stones Throw Records, LLC (STR), is a

California limited liability company (April 9, 2015 online search

of California Secretary of State attached as Ex. No. 2) which

identifies STR as an Active LLC with an Entity Address of

Boulevard, #504, Los Angeles, California 90039.

Plaintiffs further allege on information and

Case 2:15-cv-02698-SVW-VBK Document 1 Filed 04/10/15 Page 3 of 12 Page ID #:3

Defendant Apple, Inc. (APPLE), is a California

Corporation which business address is 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino,

California 95014 (Ex. No. 3, California Secretary of State online

iTunes which offers digital music downloads on a pay per download

basis in the State of California, which has offered and which

presently offers for sale the sound recording titled Sparkdala,

which infringes copyrighted works owned by the plaintiffs.

Defendant APPLE is the owner of the entity known as

Defendant Amazon.com, LLC (AMAZON-LLC), is a

Delaware organized LLC which business address is 410 Terry Avenue

North, Seattle, Washington 98109, and which is registered as a

foreign LLC to do business in the State of California (California

Secretary of State online search, Ex. No. 4).

the internet in the State of California, and has and is presently

offering for sale the infringing sound recording Sparkdala.

Plaintiffs also name as a defendant Amazon.com, Inc. (AMAZON-

INC), a corporation organized under the laws of the State of

Delaware (Ex. No. 5) in that plaintiffs are uncertain as to the

true owner of the AMAZON online sales entity.

Plaintiff JAMES History As A Composer And Recording Artist

JAMES was born on December 25, 1939, and is

presently seventy-six (76) years of age.

B.A. and M.A. in music from the University of Michigan graduating

in the early 1960's.

JAMES received both a

For over fifty (50) years, JAMES has had a