Marshmello is firing back at Arty‘s copyright infringement case against him…
In newly acquired court documents, Marshmello, real name Christopher Comstock, denies all allegations put forth by Artem Stoliarov aka Arty.
The latter claims Mello’s popular hit track “Happier” with Bastille is a direct knockoff of Arty’s remix for One Republic’s “I Lived.” Marshmello, on the other hand, claims Arty has no rights to the remix and demands the case be thrown out completely.
Marshmello calls the lawsuit “an exercise in futility.” The new docs state:
Plaintiff Artem Stoliarov p/k/a Arty (“Plaintiff ”) has sued 10 different defendants for copyright infringement based on their supposedly unauthorized use of the musical composition “I Lived (Arty Remix)” (the “Remix Composition”), which he describes as an “authorized derivative work” of the musical composition “I Lived” (the “Original Composition”) by the musical group One Republic.
Yet, in obtaining permission to create the Remix Composition five years ago, Plaintiff signed a Remixer Declaration in which he not only expressly disclaimed any “ownership or financial interest” in the Remix Composition, but he also agreed not to “make any claims to the contrary.”
He continues:
…the 2014 commercially released recording of the Remix Composition and the 2014 video embodying this recording credit the writers of the Original Composition, not Plaintiff, as the writers of the Remix Composition.
Any alleged use in the Happier Composition and the Happier Recording of any musical elements from the Remix Composition is a fair use and not actionable as a matter of law.
We’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out.
Source: Yahoo Entertainment | Photo via Rukes.com
