Universal And Fox Sued Over Simpson's Theme Park Ride... By A Musicians' Union
from the if-we-didn't-think-of-it,-it-must-be-illegal dept
The Simpsons has had a long run (perhaps overly so) and, despite being Fox's cash cow for the last quarter century, has never been targeted with a lawsuit. It took the show being turned into a theme park ride to do it and even then, it took over four years from the ride's debut before something Simpson's-related became suit-worthy.And it's not about licensing, trademarks, copyright or any of the usual suspects. It's about the music. The Simpson's theme music that runs nonstop from entrance to exit is the problem. While it would seem obvious that the rights would be cleared on an officially licensed theme ride, the American Federation of Musicians says it isn't.
[T]he union is objecting to a Simpsons roller coaster attraction at Universal Studios Theme Park in Hollywood that has been featuring the recorded music soundtrack from the show. The plaintiff union filed the lawsuit in California federal court, alleging that Universal obtained the recording without providing any notice.As far as statements go, AFM's allegation that Universal's use of the theme music for its ride does not fall within the "defined new uses" is true. It doesn't. Universal's counterclaim, that the use of the soundtrack is "promotional" and therefore, not subject to AFM's royalty demands, could also be considered largely factual. After all, a theme park ride is a giant advertisement for the franchise. But when all the crosstalk dies down, what it really looks like is a royalty grab by AFM, whose contractual language failed to nail down specific rates for use of its music by a theme park attraction.
According to the complaint, both Fox and Universal are parties to a 2010 agreement with the musicians guild that "include(s) a broad restriction on new uses" of music recorded for TV shows...
The lawsuit states, "Universal's use of music sound track from The Simpsons at its park does not fall within any of the new use exceptions enumerated in Article 8 of the Agreement and, thus, is not an authorized new use under the Agreement."
The filing notes that Fox originally "engaged the professional services of AFM musicians" when recording the theme song. But Universal skipped an important step, at least according to AFM, by putting the theme song to use on the Simpson's ride without notifying the union. Why should AFM been notified? It's tough to say. From the lengthy listing of various permutations that should result in a royalty payment to AFM, it appears the musicians' union feels it should be involved even in situations the contract never directly addresses.
Because Universal, with Fox's permission, used Simpson's theme music to soundtrack an amusement park ride, AFM feels it should get paid (again). But it seems to have no standing based on the quoted contractual wording. Universal's use of the soundtrack doesn't fit into the "PAY UP" bin and, according to AFM, it doesn't fit into the "EXCEPTIONS" bin, either. Unable to pin down exactly why Universal should be paying more royalties, AFM instead recasts this "new" usage as a violation of its members' rights, accusing Univeral of "breach of labor agreement."
Not paying for something no one's asked for (yet) is hardly "breach of contract." Universal's claim that the use is "promotional" puts it back in compliance with the contract, but AFM doesn't want Universal in compliance... or at least not under that heading, which would result in no further royalty payments. Instead AFM has asked for an injunction against Universal to prevent it from further "exploiting" the Simpson's music and is suing both Fox and Universal for "breach of contract" and any owed royalties. And all of this over a development AFM didn't see coming: a theme park ride.
Considering the principals involved in this suit are IP-behemoths Fox and Universal, it's hard to believe that either of the companies deliberately avoided running this plan past AFM simply to avoid paying some royalties. Sure, Universal's music arm has this problem, but this case deals with one of Fox's most successful IPs turning into a theme park attraction with Universal's expertise on that end. Some IP was transferred from Fox to Universal, presumably to cross all t's and dot all i's. This lawsuit, coming as it does more than four years after the ride's debut, feels more like some overactive lawyering/rent-seeking rather than a case of deliberate shafting by Fox and Universal.
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Filed Under: copyright, music, simpsons
Companies: afm, fox, universal
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Oh Lionel Hutz. Gotta love the classic lines
“Mr Simpson, this is the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film “The Never Ending Story”
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Hi,
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NOT "deliberate shafting"?
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Timeline issues
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Re: Timeline issues
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Sadly, since they are members of the higher court of justice, most likely a slap on the wrist and a promise never to do it again.
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Don't try to apply any reasonable logic other than "I own something, pay me".
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And now for some RIAA finance calculations...
This sounds speciously like Piracy!!!
So the RIAA (or I guess in this case AFM) needs to be filing a lawsuit in order to treat everyone the same, since you know corporations are people too. By RIAA math, we have 4 years of usage for say 225 days a year, for 12 hours a day, with the song played every 2 minutes or so. So we are looking at them stealing our music 324,000 times with a fine rate of $250,000 per infraction, bring the total bill to 81,000,000,000 (81 Billion).
So now I think we have the RIAA's problem solved. See all of that lost revenue is not from the everyday average Joe pirate; but from their own industry (entertainment) blatantly stealing and sponging off their hard work. If Universal and Fox had only paid the proper royalties then the music industry would never have had to lay off workers, and there might even have been enough money left over after the music execs got their pittance, that even the musicians may have gotten a few bucks.
Only thing left to say is Doh!!!
Next up, how to solve world hunger by handing out moon cheese and not make it a socialist program, so Bubba in Louisiana feels good about God, Country, and Capitalism.
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Re: And now for some RIAA finance calculations...
Do they make cheese in Louisiana?
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I can only forgive those that fell into madness by dealing with this system.
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wait
*looks it up*
*feels old*
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Re-record the song
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Banned
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