3 Count: Can’t Help Appealing

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1:  Songwriter’s Heirs Can’t Reclaim Rights to Elvis Hit, Judge Rules

First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that the estate of Hugo Peretti, the songwriter that co-wrote the Elvis Presley hit Can’t Help Falling in Love, has lost an appeal to try and reclaim their rights to the composition.

In 2014, the estate attempted to file a notice of copyright termination with Authentic Brands to terminate a 1983 agreement that resulted in them obtaining rights to the song. Copyright termination allows creators, or their heirs, to terminate such agreements, but a lower court dismissed the case, noting that the 1983 agreement was by them, and they are not the original creator.

The Second Circuit has now upheld that dismissal, ruling that the right of copyright termination only applies to agreements reached by the original author.

2: Kanye West Sued By Texas Pastor Over Sermon Sample In ‘Donda’ Track

Next up today, Bill Donahue at Billboard reports that Kanye West is being sued by a Texas pastor over allegations that Kanye used samples of one of his sermons in the song Come to Life without permission.

The lawsuit was filed by Bishop David P. Moten, who claims that 20% of the song Come to Life consists of samples taken from a sermon that he gave. As such, he is suing for copyright infringement, noting that the sample was not licensed.

The song Come to Life was only a minor hit, but the album it is on, Donda, reached the top of the charts and spent 35 weeks in the Billboard 200. Neither Kanye nor the plaintiff had any comment on the lawsuit.

3: PresenceLearning Ordered to Pay Super Duper $3.25M in Copyright and Trademark Infringement Suit

Finally today, Kristal Kuykendall at THE Journal reports that a federal judge has approved a judgment against PresenceLearning, ordering it to pay some $3.25 million in damages plus unspecified legal fees due to copyright and trademark infringement.

PresenceLearning is a provider of online special education and therapy services to schools. They were sued by Super Duper Inc., a company that publishes similar material, alleging Super Duper content was available on the PresenceLearning platform without permission. However, PresenceLearning claimed that the works at issue were primarily uploaded by individual users that were using Super Duper content in their own sessions.

However, Super Duper hit back and alleged that PresenceLearning was well aware of the infringement taking place and even encourages the infringement by providing detailed instructions on how to do it. As such, Super Duper sued alleging both copyright and trademark infringement, but this judgment brings an end to the case and an ending that both sides are satisfied with.

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