Shady Records, Inc. v. Source Enterprises, Inc.

In late 1980s and early 1990s, Marshall Mathers (plaintiff), known professionally as Eminem, recorded rap tracks as part of Bassmint Productions (Bassmint), a teenage hip-hop group. Mathew Ruby, another group member, was Bassmint’s producer and archivist. Two of the works Mathers recorded with Bassmint, “Oh Foolish Pride” and “So Many Styles” (collectively, the works), contained racist content. Bassmint never intended to release the works to the public, but Ruby made a compilation tape containing the works for his personal collection. In 2002, under disputed circumstances, Aaron Nieman came to possess Ruby’s compilation tape. Nieman then played the tape for an acquaintance, Ronald Bolos, who convinced Nieman to sell the tape. In October 2003, Bolos sold the compilation tape to Source Enterprises, Inc. (Source) (defendant), the publisher of The Source magazine. Source was a well-known, vocal critic of Mathers, and frequently characterized Mathers, a White man, of being a racist profiteer intentionally exploiting a musical genre created by and for Black artists. After acquiring the compilation tape, Source publicly played the works at a press conference and posted excerpts from the works’ lyrics and audio recordings to Source’s public website. Shortly after, Shady Records, Inc. (Shady) (plaintiff) registered federal copyrights for both works; Ruby and Mathers had previously assigned their interests in the works to Shady. Shady filed a copyright-infringement action against Source. Among numerous other challenges, Source raised the fair-use affirmative defense and moved for summary judgment, arguing that its publication of the works was fair-use news reporting because it showcased Mathers’s alleged racism. Shady countered, arguing that Source’s release of the works was not fair use because Source’s use was predominantly commercial and because Source had acted in bad faith by purchasing the compilation tape containing the works without first ensuring that Nieman and Bolo had the right to sell it.