[00:00:01] Speaker A: Want to protect your business. The time is near. You've given it heart, now get it in gear. It's passage to profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: I'm Richard Gerhardt, founder of Gearhart Law.
[00:00:15] Speaker C: A full service intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
[00:00:20] Speaker D: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart. Not an attorney, but I work at Gearhart Law doing the marketing, and I have my own startups.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Welcome to passage to profit, everyone.
[00:00:27] Speaker C: The road to entrepreneurship, where we talk with startups, small businesses, and discuss the intellectual property that helps them flourish.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: It's time now for IP in the news. And IP in the news this week is about Mariah Carey, and she has this favorite song of mine that she sings all the time. All I want for Christmas is you.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Right.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: It's a very famous song.
[00:00:49] Speaker E: It is.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: And it's also achieved almost $3 million in royalties over the last years. Well, it turns out that somebody is suing her for copyright infringement. And the suit alleges that Carrie copied the compositional structure of an extended comparison between a loved one and the trappings of seasonal luxury.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: Right.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: And it also states that it also includes some of the lyrics from the song. And I think it's an interesting suit. The funny thing is that they released their version in 1986, so that was a long time, and it's kind of a long time to wait to bring a lawsuit. Lots of times artists get sued because they make a lot of money on their songs, and people sort of come up with excuses to kind of cash in on that. So, Kenya, what are your thoughts on this situation?
[00:01:44] Speaker F: Talk about a delayed response.
[00:01:46] Speaker D: Right?
[00:01:46] Speaker F: That's a long time. So I feel two ways. First of all, I'll go on record and say, I love Mariah Carey, so shout out to Mariah. But secondly, it's been a long time, and I feel like wasn't there some point in the process of making the song where they had to get permission? I can't imagine that someone skipped over that entire process. And I have a question for you, Richard. Is there a statute of limitations on when someone can actually sue someone over something that's practically been going on for over 20 years?
[00:02:13] Speaker C: Right.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: And there is actually a statute of limitations at six years. And so they're well past the statutory period. And so there's probably a good chance that the suit would get dismissed. Hopefully, this is just a publicity stunt and they're really not serious about it. But I can't really appreciate how somebody could bring a suit. The song's been out there for so long.
[00:02:36] Speaker F: Do you know what I would do to solve this whole thing? She's made millions. I'd write them a nice little check and send them on their way.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Send them a.
[00:02:45] Speaker F: They can't contest anything.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Dr. Reika, what do you think about all this?
[00:02:49] Speaker D: I'm with Kenya, who cannot love Mariah Carey, and just, it's such a great, uplifting song, and it's kind of like energetically, like, why bother now? And so I'm with her.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: Naima and Cecilia, what are your thoughts?
[00:03:03] Speaker E: I believe that artists should be compensated for their, know, back in the day, a lot of artists were. Their music was stolen by other people and there was no form of compensation. I do believe that if I wrote a song, I should be compensated for the song, especially if it becomes famous. Like Dr. Riker said, mariah has been singing this song for decades now, so why would you wait this long? And I think a lot of people are riding on Ed Sheeran's story where he just got sued for the same thing. But he was proven that he didn't do it because he is an actual artist and he created his own music. So I kind of think they should have a seat.
[00:03:41] Speaker G: It sounds to me like they just woke up and realized maybe they are a little broke.
[00:03:45] Speaker F: Right?
[00:03:45] Speaker G: Just saying. That's all I have to say. It sounds like they woke up a little broke and said, let's make some money today.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: So one of the things that's really challenging by being a recording artist is lots of times you don't have a lot of money, and sometimes if there is a copyright infringement, you don't really have the money to pursue it. You can't afford to hire a lawyer. And we get that at our practice. A lot people will come to us and they'll say, well, we think our song is being infringed by one of these artists, and they may actually have a decent case, but it costs so much money to put on that case, especially if it's a big artist with a big pocketbook. So I still think they should have done something sooner, but maybe they just couldn't afford to do it and maybe now they're in a position to do it. I don't know. Derek, what do you think?
[00:04:34] Speaker H: I agree with you. I think the time period and probably the financial struggle, or they did the analytics, they looked at the numbers to see how much he's making per month, every month, because it plays year round, not just holiday season. So they looked at the numbers. They're like, wait a minute. And they reverse engineered how much money they could get back. So I think they're trying to get some investment. Somebody's trying to retire, so they're trying to set up their kids, if they have kids. I don't know anything about the individual, but I think they're trying to get a quick game plan to retirement.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, most of these lawsuits end up failing, and it depends on the attitude of the artist, but lots of times they just say, look at, I'm not going to put up with this. Sort of like Ed Sheeran decided he was going to take a stand, but then you take a big risk that something could go wrong, or you just write a check and get on with your know, it's like Mariah Carey's already got more money than you know.
[00:05:24] Speaker F: I can see her saying, make it go away, darling. Make it go away.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Well, that's amazing. And if you have an idea or invention or a song or anything that you want to protect, you need to contact us at Gearheartlaw. We work with entrepreneurs worldwide to help them through the entire process of obtaining patents, trademarks and copyrights. And you can visit
[email protected] for a free consultation.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: Before we go, I'd like to thank the passage to profit team, Noah Fleischmann, our producer Alicia Morrissey, our program director. Our podcast can be found tomorrow anywhere you find your podcast. Just look for the passage to profit.
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[00:06:27] Speaker C: And remember, while the information on this program is believed to be correct, never take a legal step without checking with your legal professional first. Gearhart Law is here for your patent, trademark and copyright needs. You can find
[email protected] and contact us for a free consultation. Take care, everybody. Thanks for listening and we'll be back next week.
