Short Description

Early 1980s rap luminaries, The Fat Boys, along with their associated music companies, sued Miller Beer and its adertising agencies for sampling their sound recordings (particularly the sounds "Brrr" and "Hugga hugga" from the song "Stick 'Em") in Miller's prime-time television commercials, and for hiring look-alike and sound-alike actors to appear in the TV spot, allegedly imitating the band's likenesses. The Fat Boys had previously refused Miller's offer to appear in the commercial. The Boys sued for copyright infringement, unfair competition, privacy torts, and various related causes of action relating to Defendants' use of their sounds and likenesses. The District Court refused Defendants' attempts to defend their copyright/trademark appropriation and unfair competition under the guise of "fair use," and denied Defendants' motions for summary judgment on Miller's commercial misappropriation of the Boys' visual likeness. However, the court did not extend the misappropriation action to the "sound-alike" aspects, arguing aural similarities were not within the purview of the relevant statute. After conducting discovery, the court once again denied Defendants' motions for judgment regarding the remaining claims. There were triable issues of fact regarding the "Brrr" and "Hugga hugga" samples, which might be copyrightable as "lyrics" (not just "sounds"), particularly since Defendants had actually, admittedly copied Plaintiffs' sound recordings. Trademark claims for damages, accounting, and injunctive relief were also properly stated, and could not be rejected without further fact-finding. - LSW



