Mindset Music Group's & My first Copyright Infringment Case

[Mindset]

Mindset Music Group will be filing infringements against Real Talk Recording Studios.

You can follow the case here in this thread, learning experience for you guys. ALWAYS STAY PROTECTED.

Short Summary:
Real Talk Studios published 5 songs with productions with MMG without filing the proper paper work, nor did I/We recieved payments. Because material is copyrighted under MMG, we are clearly protected by the United States. MMG will also sue for damages - $350,000

[bknot1]

I don't know man.. does this label make enough money for ya'll to be sueing...

and if they have any pull in the industry you take a chance of getting your company black listed... I hope it works out for the best..

did ya'll send the label cease and desist letters?
before taking them to court?

[Mindset]

Originally Posted by bknot1

I don't know man.. does this label make enough money for ya'll to be sueing...

and if they have any pull in the industry you take a chance of getting your company black listed... I hope it works out for the best..

did ya'll send the label cease and desist letters?
before taking them to court?

They do got pull, and enough money, est. annually for the studio is about 2 million, and they recently signed Bossiliniy, and signed Stoney Crooked, and a few new artists, he has more pull in the industry, but I have enough pull with major labels, not indies like him. Malaco Records owns a portion of Real Talk through stock, and I have pull with WB, Universal, Def Jam now, and Interscope. I sent all paper work for a minute now warning of action, and the site (myspace) that is hosting the files confirmed who the copyrights belong to.

[bknot1]

Originally Posted by Mindset

Real Talk Studios published 5 songs with productions with MMG without filing the proper paper work, nor did I/We recieved payments.

Ok.. so ya'll didn'e receive any payment for the production work. depending on how the contract was written it could of been a work-for-hire.. which in turns you wouldn't be getting anymore monies and unless its witten in the contract that don't have to give ya'll credit for the work.

I don't know what type of contracts ya'll signed.. which will be hard to decide if I think you really have a strong case to win your case or will you be wasting good money on going to court...

I do hope everything works out for you.. take care..

[eternalpayn]

Haha I was worried for a second, thought maybe you got an infringement case against you guys.

Anyway, good luck with your case. Is there anyway you can post more information, once the case evolves to a point where you are able to? I think it would be pretty cool to be able to see what the whole process is like, and if you win, how you were able to protect your rights. Y'know, prevent others from being screwed.

[Mindset]

See the thing is, no contract was signed. I had the contract to be signed, but after reading it, I kept pushing back signing the contract. I initially signed on Real Talk as Vice President, and that I made sure all previous work remained mine etc, not to belong to the company. Anyways so at the studio of course I had CD's, and was to engineer to keep cost low, well business on the label end started moving quicker, so I didn't sign the engineer/producer contracts which of course stated all rights to Real Talk, I ain't having that. I ain't buying my shit back 20 years down the road for some shit I made. So while I'm doing business clueless whats going on, I checked up on their sites etc, and my material on the site. Which I never was notified of shit. So as of this very day, I halted all business with Real Talk, and working with my lawyers.

[stevieb]

Children, behave...

[bknot1]

I Hope you do see the problem here... with no contract in place its really going to be a hard fight. They will say since you were part of the company (ie VP) all works belong to them. They are going to consider you an inhouse producer even without the signed contracts.. What does the credits say for the songs released. I hope everthing goes well for you.. keep us informed.

[Mindset]

Originally Posted by bknot1

I Hope you do see the problem here... with no contract in place its really going to be a hard fight. They will say since you were part of the company (ie VP) all works belong to them. They are going to consider you an inhouse producer even without the signed contracts.. What does the credits say for the songs released. I hope everthing goes well for you.. keep us informed.

For the Vice President contract, I actually wrote the contract myself for the company, in the best interest of both myself & the company. I made sure that all previous works belong to me, and any production work would be contracted as me being an independent producer and not as an in house producer. Also I made sure all new material still belongs to me (SR). This is because of the conflict of interest between Mindset Music Group and Real Talk Studios. And PR to belong to company with usual production points of 6%. Money & Contract wise, I get majority of production budgets of any given project(s). There are no credits on the songs released other than "Real Talk Studios & On Fire/Malaco records. I own SR of the material released, but I see what your talking about.

[deejaytrixx]

Originally Posted by bknot1

I Hope you do see the problem here... with no contract in place its really going to be a hard fight. They will say since you were part of the company (ie VP) all works belong to them. They are going to consider you an inhouse producer even without the signed contracts.. What does the credits say for the songs released. I hope everthing goes well for you.. keep us informed.

From what I'm reading the work was done prior to any new business arrangement, agreed or implied. He has a strong case if he owns the copyright and the publishing was assigned to his SS# or tax id#.

The hard part is to prove actual damage. If you lost sales as a result, or they benefited from having the music up then its a little more clear cut. If they simply had it up, it may be protected under Fair Use..but I don't know any of the details..

I don't know why dudes always say that "you gonna get blacklisted" You only get blacklisted if your claim was fraudulent, or you don't use the court case to your advantage for some free publishing..Either way, money is what this is about. I started out buying pro equipment with a friend who is now a partner in my studio biz because of a copyright enfrigment case against a major label which went VERY VERY well..Out of court settlements and a gag order will be issued if any real money is involved, and no one will be the wiser either way.