Grammy nominee Drake has been sued by an ex-girlfriend who claims she co-wrote the hit song “Marvin’s Room” and is entitled to part ownership in the copyright in the song; copyright in the sound recording; and payment of songwriter royalties.
The first 30 seconds of the song is a recording of a phone conversation with the ex-girlfriend and plaintiff, Erika Lee. Lee asserts that she and Drake had every intention to write the song together and that her contributions were intended to be incorporated into the final song. Lee contends the intro “phone message” is key to the underlying song.
Lee’s complaint is somewhat confusing as issues of ownership of the sound recording are intermingled with claims asserting ownership in the underlying song.
The most interesting thing in the complaint to me is a cause of action for Breach of Fiduciary Duty. Really, songwriters have a fiduciary duty to one another? If a record label doesn’t have a fiduciary duty to an artist, do we really think that one songwriter would owe the highest duty of utmost care to a co-writer?
Read the complaint here.
October 18th, 2012 at 9:03 am
I know this comment is a little late, but wouldn’t the fiduciary theory rest on the argument that they were joint venture business partners?