Photo Credit: Katy Perry – Hot N Cold (Official Music Video)
A songwriter’s intervention in a copyright case involving Dr. Luke over Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” has been denied, but only because of jurisdiction.
The court has ruled to dismiss the copyright case involving Dr. Luke over Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” as the parties entered settlement proceedings that began last month. At the same time, Judge Roberto A. Lange denied a Motion for Limited Intervention filed by songwriter Jonna Johnson, who claims that Dr. Luke stole “Hot N Cold” and other songs she alleges to have written that ended up on Katy Perry’s album One of the Boys. Though the case was dismissed with prejudice, it doesn’t mean the end of the road for Johnson’s claims.
Judge Lange wrote that the parties had filed a Stipulation for Dismissal with Prejudice on November 9, following court documents from October indicating that they had entered settlement proceedings and expected to reach a resolution within the next 30 days. That time has come, and the judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled in the future.
However, that just settles the matter of a South Dakota broadcaster and allegations of unauthorized public performance. Jonna Johnson, the songwriter who alleges that Dr. Luke stole her lyrics could still pursue her claims to authorship.
On November 10, Judge Lange wrote that the motion filed by Johnson was denied “such that dismissal of this case with prejudice has no effect on Jonna Johnson’s claims to authorship of lyrics to “Hot N Cold,” a dispute over which this Court would appear to lack personal jurisdiction of the parties.”
Previously, Johnson told Digital Music News that she is not suggesting that the settlement itself establishes wrongdoing, invalid ownership, or infringement by any particular publisher. Instead, she sought to separately assert her interest in one of the compositions. She also said it posited the question of what should happen when a copyright enforcement action approaches settlement while a third party has separately asserted an authorship interest.
It appears that some of those questions have been answered: nothing significant occurred, as such, and the case proceeded toward dismissal. But Johnson’s alleged authorship stake could still be pursued in its own separate case; that issue was not beholden to the decision to dismiss with prejudice.
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