Apple Sued Over Use of Jamie XX Song in iPhone Advertisement

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | JANUARY 25, 2017 7:07am PT | by Eriq Gardner

[Swordmaker]

Jerome Lawson, the lead singer of The Persuasions, contends his sampled voice is protected under California law.

Apple, Inc., is being taken to court over its use of Jamie xx's "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" in a televised commercial for the iPhone 6. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, may showcase a new legal front in the battle over sampling.

When the song, featured on Jamie xx's Grammy-nominated album In Colors, was released in 2015, a small controversy arose over the allegation that the U.K. artist hadn't licensed use of The Persuasions' 1971 recording, "Good Times." Jamie xx was never sued. According to a 2015 Billboard article, Universal had cleared use with Persuasions member Jimmy Hayes acknowledging, "I was told about it but forgot."

It turns out this isn't the end of the controversy.

Jerome Lawson, the lead singer in the a cappella group, is now suing over the iPhone ad, but quite notably, he is not asserting an infringement of the sound recording. It's likely he doesn't actually control rights to "Good Times." Instead, he's contending that Apple and its ad firm, Media Arts Lab, have violated his right of publicity under California law.

[Swordmaker]

No copyright, but Apple got permission of the copyright holder and the songwriters, and the publishers. . . but one singer claims he has a right to control the use of his voice under an obscure California Law so is suing Apple for not getting HIS permission as well, claiming his fans would recognize his voice and assume that he is endorsing Apple and its products. He wants to be compensated for such endorsement for use of his 1971 voice from before Apple even existed!

[Swordmaker]

Singer Jerome Lawson, lead singer of the 70s group the Persuasions, suing Apple because, he says, they did not get his personal permission to use a 1971 clip from a song they did get permission to use from the copyright owners. He's citing an obscure California Law about "rights of publicity" for using his voice. Others who have attempted to use this law have not gotten anywhere with this novel theory, running into the pre-emption of Federal Copyright Law. — PING!

Apple Sued By Singer For Use of His Voice In Song Clip from 1971
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