Lily Allen Song Basis of Copyright Infringement Battle in Ukraine

The Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine has recently ruled in favor of Ukrainian record company Comp Music Publishing in its copyright dispute against Astelit, one of the largest Ukrainian mobile telephone network operators, which operates under the life:) trademark.

Comp Music Publishing demanded compensation for the copyright infringement of its client, multinational music recording and publishing company EMI Music Publishing.

In February-March 2010, life:) conducted an advertising campaign running a total of 4,369 broadcasts of a commercial, on 20 Ukrainian TV channels, which contained a music composition based on the British recording artist Lily Allen’s 2009 hit single Fuck You, authored by Lily Allen and American producer and songwriter Greg Kurstin.

Comp Music Publishing initiated a copyright infringement action against Astelit. Astelit claimed that the music was produced by its contractor, Shootgroup, which had employed the composer Vitaliy Rozinko, who only used part of the disputed song in his remix.

In 2013, Comp Music Publishing filed a lawsuit before the Kiev Commercial Court against Astelit, Shootgroup and the composer claiming exclusive copyright, under an agreement with EMI Music Publishing, and EUR 21,000 (USD 23,000) in damages.

After two years of court trials, the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine recently satisfied the plaintiff’s claim and awarded the above-mentioned sum.

Prepared by: Olga Goncharova

For more information, please contact ukraine@petosevic.com.

Source: Ukrainian newspaper Ekonomichna Pravda, State Register of Court Decisions