UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTSOUTHERN DISTRICTOFNEW YORK
Civil ActionNo.16-CV-4278
JURYDEMANDEDCOMPLAINT
Plaintiff Matthew Fulks ("Fulks" or "Plaintiff")brings the following claimsof copyrightinfringementagainst DefendantsBeyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter("Beyonce"),Sony MusicEntertainment("Sony"),ColumbiaRecording Corporation("Columbia"),andParkwoodEntertainmentLLC("Parkwood")(collectively"Defendants").
MATTHEW FULKS,v.BEYONCÉ GISELLEKNOWLES-CARTER,SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT INC.,COLUMBIA RECORDINGCORPORATION,PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT LLC,Defendants.
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1
INTRODUCTION
1.Plaintiff is an individualresident of Louisville, Kentuckywho works asanindependent film maker
. Plaintiffs
work includes the production ofshort filmsforrecordinglabelsfor usein the production ofvideospromoting musical works.2.Plaintiff is also employed as the Creative Director attelevisionstation WDRB,
the markets
number one rankednews station,where he conceptualizes,writes, and directstelevision advertisements.3.Plaintiff is theauthorof
PALINOIA
, a short filmdepictingthepainof atumultuousrelationship
(“
PALINOIA
Work”)
.Plaintiffcompletedcreation ofthe
PALINOIA
Workin July 2014, with thecreativeprocess beginning in January 2014.4.The
PALINOIA
Workis an original creation that is distinctive within theshortfilm genreandcombinescarefully selected but seeminglyunrelatedvisualsin arapid montage,with the recitation of a poem used as voiceover against adistinctive audio soundtrack.5.Non-partyBryan Younce is theSenior Vice-President of Video and ContentProductionat Columbia Music Entertainment.Exhibit1.6.Upon information and belief, Youncecommissionsdirectors and producers tocreateaudiovisual contentto accompanyand/or promote the musicrecorded on the Columbialabel.7.According tothe web siteswww.allaccess.comandwww.fmqb.com, Younce hassupervisedthe creation ofvideos andothervisual content forDefendantBeyoncé GiselleKnowles-Carter (
“
Beyonce
”
).Exhibits2 and 3.
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28.Beyonce'sofficialwebsite,www.beyonce.com,listsBryan Younceamong thosecredited for working on
Beyonces
2013album,
Beyoncé
,produced byColumbia Records/SonyMusic.Exhibit4.9.In July2015,non-partyChris Thomas, an artist manager at C3 PresentsLLC
(“C3”)
in San Antonio, Texas, contacted Plaintiff about anopportunityto direct and produce avideo for themusical groupMSMR, also represented by C3 and affiliated with Columbia.Exhibit5.10.On July 22, 2015,ChrisThomas emailed MS MR's manager Brian Becklinks toPlaintiff's work, includinga link to the complete
PALINOIA
Work.Exhibit6.11.On July 24,2015, MS MR manager Brian Beck forwarded the email string thatincludedthe link
to Plaintiffs
PALINOIA
Work to Younceat Columbia. Exhibit6.12.On July 24, 2015, Younce sent a follow-up email toBrian Beckrequesting
Plaintiffs email address.
The e
mail string included Chris Thomass ori
ginal July 22, 2015 emailtoMS MR management that containedlinks to the
PALINOIA
Work. Exhibit6.In the sameemail string, Younce notes that he previouslytried to reach Plaintiff through the video sharingsite "Vimeo" without success. Exhibit6.13.
Chris Thomas provided the MS MR manager with Plaintiffs contact information
by email and textdated July 29, 2016. Exhibit6.14.On July 29, 2015,the same day that Chris Thomas providedYouncewith
Plaintiffs
contact information, Youncecontacted Plaintiffdirectlyby emailacknowledgingthathe had received Plaintiff
’s “info
.
”
Younceinvited Plaintiffto submit additionalstoryboardsandadevelopment plan
(commonly referred to as a “treatment”
)for considerationby Columbia.Exhibit7.
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