'09
Beyonce filed a federal lawsuit in New York on Wednesday, targeting “John and Jane Does” who are selling bootlegged items, including CDs and concert merchandise, “in the vicinity” of her concerts. The lawsuit is specifically in anticipation of her concert in Madison Square Garden on June 21 and 22, and she hopes to make “it” illegal before then. The article doesn’t say what “it” means – the bootlegging itself, or the selling of the goods.
Turns out you don’t have to actually know who you’re suing to file a lawsuit, because Beyonce is going after a bunch of John and Jane Does for hawking fake goods at her concerts.
Beyonce has filed a federal lawsuit today in New York, alleging that a pile of shady people have sold knock-off CDs and merchandise in “the vicinity” of past concerts she’s performed around the world.
Beyonce believes the piracy is bound to happen again — specifically at her upcoming concerts at Madison Square Garden on June 21 and 22 — so she’s asking the court to deem it illegal before the bootlegged booty hits the streets.
[from TMZ]
According to Wikipedia, a bootlegged copy is anything that has been released without the express intentions of the artist or studio. So the culprits could be selling unauthorized copies of live performances, or they could have simply downloaded her album on iTunes and sold copies of that. As for the fake merchandise, a recent lawsuit filed by the jam band Phish requested that the band be able to seize and destroy all unlicensed items being sold by fans. The lawsuit was a failure because they didn’t follow the proper procedures, but the precedent has generally been to allow these types of seizures. Otherwise, concert managers are powerless to stop the bootleggers. Phish claimed that they lost millions a year in possible revenue from the selling of fake merchandise; I would assume Beyonce has similar concerns.
It is not explained in the article whether the same group of people have been selling bootlegged merchandise all over the world, or if the culprits are found on an individual, concert-by-concert basis. Either way, tracking these people down and prosecuting them will be a difficult process.
Beyonce is shown performing in Herning, Denmark on 5/9/09. Credit: Uffe Kongsted/Fame Pictures
Written by SamHill
Posted in Beyonce, Lawsuits, Music
- Top five cutest dogs in movies [Evil Beet]
- Lady Gaga’s schtick is getting so old [Lainey Gossip]
- Bobbi Kristina was hospitalized after her mom Whitney Houston passed [D-Listed]
- Kellan Lutz’s ridic new facial hair [Go Fug Yourself]
- Katy Perry checks out Rihanna’s cleavage [Fark]
- Tom Cruise carries Suri in a blanket [Popsugar]
- Zooey Deschanel on SNL [Pajiba]
- Vanessa Hudgens wears fur [Celebslam]
- Matt Bomer sort-of came out. He wasn’t out already? [The Daily Wh.at]
- Bruce Willis and his pregnant wife [INF Daily]
4 Responses to “Beyonce suing unknown defendants for bootlegged items”
Leave a Reply
By commenting you agree to our comment policy
Use the "Report this comment as spam or abuse" link to ask the moderators to delete a comment if it's offensive. If your comment disappears, it may have been eaten by the spam filter. Please e-mail cbcomments at gmail.com to get it retrieved.
Get an icon next to your name by signing up for a free Gravatar
I find it ironic and irritating that she has the b@lls to sue people for stealing her stuff when she steals other peoples music and claims it as her own on every solo album she has released. This just proves that all she cares about is money. She is NOT an artist she is just a wh*re for the music industry.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
the word fake just comes to mind, fake hair, fake nose, fake boobs, just fake, plastic fantastic.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
She is just greedy and wants all the profits. I bet if the people selling counterfit merchandise gave her 60% she would stfu about it.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
I bet all the above poster download music and probably movies illegally. Only artists or educated people understand the concept and importance of intellectual property.
Report this comment as spam or abuse