Sony Music has been awarded more than $800,000 after a TikTok user violated its copyright.
In 2022, the music industry behemoth filed a stringent copyright takedown notice for Trefuego’s song 90mph.
The firm then launched a lawsuit against Trefuego, real name Dantreal Daevon Clark-Rainbolt, accusing him of “the flagrant and deliberate infringement” of the 1986 track Reflections, which was released by Japanese musician Toshifumi Hinata.
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“Trefuego… simply stole Hinata’s musical composition and sound recording, using them without asking and without permission, all in flagrant violation of the United States Copyright Laws,” according to the complaint.
“Trefuego’s infringing conduct has and continues to severely damage and diminish the market for Hinata’s works by falsely inferring that he endorses and/or supports Trefuego’s use of Reflections in 90mh.”
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Last year, a judge ruled that Clark-Rainbolt had breached Sony Music copyright.
In a follow-up verdict this week, the same judge ordered the rapper to pay $802,997 (£636,000), which equates to around $700,000 (£554,000) in streaming platform revenues and $100,000 (£79,000) in Sony licensing costs.
“The court hopes this case will serve as a $802,997.23 lesson for defendant in carefully selecting the materials included in his raps,” US District Judge Mark T Pittman stated in his decision.
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