SALT LAKE CITY — Rapper and singer Bad Bunny is used to making headlines on stage, but he's now singing a different tune after filing a lawsuit against a man who recorded his Salt Lake City concert and posted it to social media.
The lawsuit raises the question about what type of recordings can land you in legal trouble?
Attorneys for Bad Bunny filed the lawsuit last week, naming a man from Spain as the defendant. The man is accused of posting videos of 10 songs from the Utah concert on his YouTube channel, which the lawyers say infringes on the Puerto Rican star's copyright
"They're both looking at trademarks as well as copyrights," explained Devin Miller, CEO of Miller IP Law. "Copyrights are going to protect the actual creative in nature, so the music, if he had his own video, let's say he recorded his own concert, the lyircs, how he wrote it out, the melody, the tune.
The lawsuit also claims the man is profiting off Bad Bunny's name and music, and taking views and ad revenue away from the performer's own accounts. That's where Miller says people get into legal trouble with concert recordings.
"If your YouTube or Facebook or whatever channel is set up to monetize, now you're making money off the content, they're going to say you didn't create this, you didn't make the song, you didn't sing it, it's not fair in that sense of fairness to now you get to profit off something you didn't create," added Miller.
The lawsuit also seeks an injunction to prevent the defendant from posting more videos that infringe on Bad Bunny's copyright, and asks for either $150,000 per video posted or profits made from the YouTube video ad revenue.
"You own the video you took, that is yours, you are the creator," said Miller. "But when it integrates or leverages someone else's content that they own the copyright to, then you can't just simply say, 'Well, I took a video, I can take it of whatever I want.'"
Miller says if you're a concertgoer taking videos and posting snippets on social media for friends and family to enjoy, you're generally not going to find any legal trouble.
"They can still claim copyright infringement, but usually you're okay because you're taking a small snippet or you're not making money."
