Music companies ABKCO and Universal Music Group won partial summary judgment against a UK-based documentary production company in a copyright infringement case.
US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla on Wednesday (February 4) ruled that Coda Publishing and its directors Robert Kirk Carruthers and Gwilym Michael Davies willfully infringed copyrights owned by the labels.
The judge also approved a permanent injunction blocking Coda from using the labels’ content in connection with the promotion and future sales of the “infringing films,” according to the ruling, which you can read here.
The infringing films in question are documentaries about musicians including The Rolling Stones, Elton John, U2, ABBA, Nirvana, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
ABKCO and Universal Music Group subsidiaries, including Polygram Publishing, sued Coda, Vision Films and directors Carruthers and Davies in 2020, accusing them of producing and distributing the films without obtaining licenses for the sound recordings and concert footages used in the films.
According to the six-year old complaint, which you can read here, Coda had been creating these documentaries since the mid-2000s and distributed them through platforms including Amazon and Vimeo. Two of the films were titled The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties (2018) and The Rolling Stones – Big Hits (2012), which the labels said “are partial titles of Rolling Stones phonorecord albums.”
“Neither Plaintiffs nor their predecessors authorized Coda to use or reproduce any of the Content in any manner or more specifically to reproduce any concert performances of musical compositions, to synchronize the musical compositions and/or sound recordings with the visual components of the Infringing Films, or to exploit the Content in any way for commercial gain,” according to the lawsuit.
In a March 2019 letter, the labels demanded that Coda stop distributing the films and provide an accounting of revenues generated from them.
ABKCO controls rights to early Rolling Stones recordings made before 1972, while Universal Music companies own or administer rights to compositions by numerous songwriters from the rock era. The plaintiffs sought either statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringement or actual damages plus the defendants’ profits.
The court’s latest ruling excluded one work from the judgment, Higher Ground by Red Hot Chili Peppers. The court also did not grant summary judgment against defendant Clare Anne Gambold, who was listed in the complaint as having an interest in Coda.
Judge Failla granted the plaintiffs’ motion to exclude expert testimony from Michael Donaldson, while denying the defendants’ motion to exclude testimony from Barry Massarsky. The court also denied the defendants’ request for attorneys’ fees and costs.
The judge directed the parties to discuss and propose next steps once issues with Carruthers’ representation are resolved. Carruthers was identified in the complaint as director of the films in question.
The court has yet to determine the damages.
This marks another lawsuit over music used in documentary films about artists. In late 2024, Sony Music Entertainment settled a copyright lawsuit against the makers of the 2022 biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody. The complaint lodged in February 2025 alleged that Anthem Films, NYBO Productions, and Black Label Media failed to pay the licensing fees for 24 Whitney Houston tracks used in the movie.
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