Everything about BTS & Big hit (HYBE) copyright infringement case

When was the last time you heard about sensational music artists finding themselves entangled in copyright infringement case?

Well, today, here, in this article, is one of the greatest copyright infringement cases of its kind. One that will most likely shake the music industry all across the globe. With the Arty vs Marshmello case, and now another, I believe copyright infringement allegations are slowly ripping off the industry. What do you need to know about this? What should be done? Let us look deeper into what the BTS and HYBE vs K-Pop Reality Show copyright infringement entail exactly is.

Let's get straight to the facts of the case. The facts of these copyright infringement allegations relate to BTS’s guest appearance in the K-pop I-Land reality show. Kahn, says, as part of his occupation he does business relating to creation and production of television and audio music. Now, opposed to other copyright cases, this allegation does not involve a single specific song as we will see shortly. CJE &M, that helped Big Hit to create the show, is also a defendant in the same suit.

Ideally, Kahn, who filed the suit on 14^th of April says, is that his idea was stolen. He claims that he had a similar idea and that the idea was stolen and used to create I-Land. He claims Island Hip Hopping, a television show that he created, and even went ahead to register with the Writers Guild of America East back in the year 2013 was of the same idea used to create I-Land.

Now, what was I-Land about?

Basically, I-Land was created as a way of identifying talents and the next K-pop superstars. The show started from June till September 2020. Kahn went ahead and worked on learning about the Asian traditions and spent almost 7 years living in Asia. He did this for ensuring he has the adequate skills and knowledge to start the production of Island Hip Hopping. Kahn alleged to have held conversations and even shared his idea with Eric Aquilar, who is alleged to have been an employee at Risk Emergency Defence Security Solutions, Inc. at the time. Kahn went ahead to allege that Aquilar had in fact agreed that one of the Netflix executives, at the time, obtained the series treatment of Island Hip Hopping from him. On his part, Aquilar consented to have held these conversations with Kahn through the telecommunications that they had.

Here lies the gist of the matter. Essentially the suit filed by the claimant, Kahn, claims that in 2019, Netflix signed a partnership deal with CJE &M, for content production and distribution. Remember that CJE &M had been named as one of the defendants in this case. Under the partnership, CJE & M created the I-Land YouTube series, which provided contestants the rare opportunity of working with Big Hit, the defendants in this case. Additionally, the claim identified that the defendants even went further ahead to sign partnerships with Samsung that saw to it that ads were shown on the I-Land YouTube series during the breaks. The ads featured Samsung S20/5G phone and BTS. There are more performances or undertakings that Kahn claims were fueled by the I-Land series, such as the deal between Netflix and Samsung and the Big Hit Japan Global Debut Project.

While conversing with Aquilar, Kahn claims starting an Asian pop culture named café’ was part of the ideas he shared.

An idea he claims was fraudulently stolen after noting that the defendants had launched a similar café’ against Kahn’s warning. Because as he highlights, he had made Aquilar aware of the possible infringement and that he confronted Aquilar, even as of the day when the café was opened, which was the 13^th day of March 2020. Kahn claims that Mrs. Dianne Aquilar, who is Aquilar’s cousin helped with the opening of the café’.

Kahn’s claim, in conclusion, read in part as follows;

“The copyrighted treatment Island Hip Hopping is directly infringed each time Defendants disseminate, distribute and release streaming, their I-Land 7.

By distributing such streaming series to the public for viewing, with the Samsung ads run throughout the streaming, or by producing and distributing music created through I-Land, Defendants have and continue to materially contribute to the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of the copyrighted Island Hip Hopping series created by Plaintiff…Through the actions of Mr. Aguilar, defendants have been provided actual and direct knowledge of Island Hip Hopping and have directly infringed upon such copyright”

Kahn, in his claim, calls for the intervention of the court, noting that if not protected, he might be in a position to suffer an injury that cannot even be adequately compensated even by money. His demands are statutory damages amounting to $150,000 for every work infringed or alternatively. Kahn prays that the court awards him damages plus the total profits acquired by the defendants by virtue of infringement. Remember that most of these are allegations that will first have to be verified by the court.

We wait to see how this goes and will continue to inform you of new developments concerning this case. Remember to drop down your comments on your thoughts about these copyright infringement allegations.