Rapper Macklemore’s Wins Against Jazz Musician OK’d by 5th Cir.

The rap duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis sufficiently proved they didn’t infringe a New Orleans jazz musician’s copyrights with their hit songs “Thrift Shop,” “Can’t Hold Us,” the Fifth Circuit affirmed.

Paul Batiste didn’t show that the rapper and producer had access to his works, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Tuesday.

It also upheld an attorneys’ fees award of over $125,000 for the duo, citing Batiste’s unreasonable claims and inappropriate litigation tactics.

Batiste sued Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in New Orleans federal court for allegedly using unauthorized samples and copying original elements of 11 of his songs in five of their songs.

The Fifth Circuit affirmed that Batiste didn’t show Macklemore & Ryan Lewis copied his music. It rejected Batiste’s argument that the rapper and producer had access to his music because it was widely disseminated through radio stations, record stores, and streaming services, among other things.

The record showed that the dissemination of Batiste’s music was actually “quite limited,” the court said. The evidence included “meager sales in only a handful of local stores” and “sparse” downloads and streams of his music.

The appeals court also noted that Batiste’s music wasn’t streaming until after the duo had released all but one of the allegedly infringing songs.

The court also rejected Batiste’s theory of access based on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s performance at a New Orleans bar that was “not too far” from a record store that sold his music.

The duo’s sampling of other artists also didn’t imply they had access to Batiste’s works, the court said.

Without proof of access, Batiste would have to prove the works were strikingly similar to show infringement. But the court said Batiste “doesn’t even try to meet the striking-similarity standard.”

Batiste also argued the district court shouldn’t have awarded fees without evidence his claims were frivolous or in bad faith.

But the Fifth Circuit upheld the fees because Batiste’s claims were objectively unreasonable.

It noted Batiste’s submission of an expert report that he ghost-wrote, his “many discovery abuses” and “disregard for the court’s pretrial orders,” and his “similarly weak claims” against dozens of others, among other things.

The court said it didn’t have jurisdiction to review the decision to hold Batiste’s attorney, DaShawn Hayes of New Orleans, jointly-and-severally liable for the fees because the attorney didn’t appeal. But it said it was “troubled” by his “misconduct” during the case.

Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote the opinion, joined by Judges Leslie H. Southwick and Stephen A. Higginson.

Phelps Dunbar LLP and Loeb & Loeb LLP represented Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

The case is Batiste v. Lewis, 5th Cir., No. 19-30400, 9/22/20.