Page:Nealy v. Atlantic Recording.pdf/2

Case 1:18-cv-25474-RAR Document 256 Entered on FLSD Docket 06/04/2021 Page 2 of 14

clear error. Liberty Am. Ins. Grp., Inc. v. WestPoint Underwriters, L.L.C., 199 F. Supp. 2d 1271, 1276 (M.D. Fla. 2001); accord Macort v. Prem, Inc., 208 F. App’x 781, 784 (11th Cir. 2006).

The Court having conducted a de novo review of the portions of the Report to which the parties’ objected,^[1] reviewed the remainder of the Report for clear error, and being otherwise fully advised, it is hereby

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Report [ECF No. 224] is AFFIRMED AND ADOPTED as supplemented herein.

ANALYSIS

Plaintiffs raise three objections to the Report. First, Plaintiffs contend that Magistrate Judge Becerra erred in finding that Plaintiffs lacked standing to bring a copyright infringement action on behalf of Music Specialist Publishing (“MSP”) as to the songs “Jam the Box,” “I Know You Love Me,” and “Computer Language”^[2] (collectively, “MSP-Registered Songs”)^[3] See Pls.’ Obj. at 2. Second, Plaintiffs argue that Magistrate Judge Becerra erred in finding that the Supreme Court’s holding in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., 572 U.S. 663 (2014), limits damages to a three-year period prior to the commencement of a copyright suit. Id. at 10. And third, Plaintiffs aver that Magistrate Judge Becerra erred in finding that the affidavits of William Stevens, Esq. (“Stevens”) and George Knox, Esq. (“Knox”) should be stricken. Id. at 15.

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1. As discussed below, the Court reviews Magistrate Judge Becerra’s findings on the motions to strike for clear error even though Plaintiffs have objected to those findings.
2. For “Computer Language,” the copyright registration lists both MSP and Happy Stepchild Music Publ. Corporation as the claimants. See Rep. at 18.
3. Magistrate Judge Becerra’s holding also applied to a fourth MSP-registered song, “When I Hear Music,” which has since been removed from the case by stipulation of the parties. See Pls.’ Resp. to Defs. Obj. [ECF No. 255] at 2, n.3. The songs “Fix It In The Mix” and “Freestyle Express” were also removed from the case by stipulation, see id. at 2, n.2, so the Court has excluded those songs from its analysis herein.

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