As I always mention, the legal cogs are slow to turn and we’re still just working through parts of the ATTRAKT/FIFTY FIFTY/The Givers/SIAHN/Ablume results. The latest is a recent ruling was on the civil lawsuit over IP of the hit song “Cupid“, which resulted in The Givers/SIAHN scoring a win.
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Previously, ATTRAKT had filed civil lawsuit questioning The Givers/SIAHN’s legal right to be the creator of the song, claiming among other things that he got those commercial rights through forgery* and that the rights belonged to them, demanded they be transferred . Well, the judge decided the claims were without merit and dismissed them all.
*At the time, I wondered if ATTRAKT (and Dispatch) confused DocuSign auto-sigs for forgery … and while I’m not saying that was the case, it sure seems more likely now.
The court concluded that the intellectual property rights of “Cupid” belonged exclusively to The Givers, including the right to offer other parties permission to use or perform the song. While ATTRAKT attempted to make its case by claiming that the song was “jointly created by The Givers and ATTRAKT”, the court dismissed the claims, recognizing that The Givers singlehandedly purchased the song from its original composers for global distribution.
Thus ATTRAKT has thus lost claim to “Cupid” with regards to contracts, negotiation, creative, and payment, but the master and composition rights are separate issues. Basically The Givers have won the ability to decide who can profit off it (themselves) through licensing or whatever else, which makes sense if SIAHN didn’t actually forge the transfer of rights like he was accused.
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Anyway, both ATTRAKT/Jeon Hong Joon and The Givers/SIAHN are incredibly shady and have been even before this saga, so of course they’ll both go on operating in the back stage collecting money while the front stage idols occupy everybody’s time and hatred. Tale as old as time, I suppose.
