Opinion ID: 345093
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: damages awarded to big seven

Text: 35 The final phase of this lawsuit involves the amended complaint by Big Seven, which alleged that Lennon breached the settlement agreement arising from Big Seven's suit for infringement of its copyrighted song, You Can't Catch Me, by the Lennon song entitled Come Together. This agreement has been called by the parties the Come Together Settlement Agreement, although the parties have not been able to come together at all. The alleged breach involved the fact that the album Walls and Bridges did not include the three Big Seven songs Lennon had agreed to record on his next album after the making of the agreement. The trial court, however, properly found that in context the words next album actually referred to the Rock 'n' Roll album. It was planned at that time as Lennon's next release, and only on a nostalgia album of that type could the Big Seven songs be useful, since none of them was written by Lennon. Even in Rock 'n' Roll, however, only two of the three Big Seven songs, You Can't Catch Me and Ya Ya, appeared; Lennon had recorded the third song, Angel Baby, but edited it out before Capitol released the album. The trial court awarded Big Seven $6,795 for lost royalties resulting from the omission of a third Big Seven song on Rock 'n' Roll. 36 In appealing this award, Lennon argues that Big Seven was judicially estopped from asserting its claim by virtue of having previously contended that the Come Together Settlement Agreement was supplanted by the alleged October 8, 1974, oral contract, which the trial court held was not in fact a contract in the first phase of this case. The court below rejected Lennon's estoppel argument, reasoning that there was no detrimental reliance by Lennon on Big Seven's original position. See Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. v. National Publishers, Inc., 294 F.Supp. 10, 12 (S.D.N.Y.1968). We agree. Big Seven's factual contentions have been unchanged throughout this litigation, although the courts have viewed the legal consequences stemming from these facts differently from the interpretation initially given to them by Big Seven. Big Seven is not seeking to benefit twice from inconsistent legal positions. In finding against Big Seven on the question of the oral agreement, the district court in effect held that the Come Together Settlement was still in effect. On it Lennon has not performed, and he in effect concedes that, if his estoppel argument is not accepted, the award of $6,795 for lost royalties was proper. 37 Big Seven appeals from the award on the ground that it should have been given damages in addition to those for lost royalties based on Rock 'n' Roll's actual sales of 342,000 albums. Big Seven's principal contention is that, if Lennon had released the additional Big Seven song, it would have generated not only royalties arising from sales of that recording, but also, because of the interest created by Lennon's version, would have induced other artists to record the same song, thereby enhancing the value of the copyright. Evidently cover records, which are such subsequently recorded versions of the same song, are a well known phenomenon in the record industry, and in some cases the cover record royalties may amount to a substantial proportion of the total royalties earned. In the case of one hit, Close to You, by a group named The Carpenters, for example, there was evidence below that about two-thirds, of the song's royalties since the 1970 release of The Carpenters' version have come from cover records by other artists. 38 The district court found, however, that Big Seven had failed to prove the likelihood of cover records generated by a Lennon release of Angel Baby, the Big Seven song edited out of Rock 'n' Roll. There was no evidence as to specific characteristics of Angel Baby that might tend to make it a strong candidate for a cover record. The only analysis of this nature that appears in the record is to the contrary; a Lennon-called expert witness distinguished compositions like Angel Baby, where much depends on the style of the recording artist, from ones like Close to You, a Burt Bacharach composition that had more potential for allowing several artists to make commercially successful recordings. There was also evidence to the effect that one track on an album would be unlikely to have the cover record impact of a hit single like Close to You. In short, we find nothing erroneous in the district court's conclusion that any award of damages based on cover record potential would have been entirely speculative. We therefore affirm the award of $6,795 damages to Big Seven for breach of the Come Together Settlement Agreement. 39 We have considered all other contentions advanced by the parties and find them to be without merit. Judgment for Lennon in the amount of $84,912.96 and for Big Seven in the amount of $6,795, in accordance with opinion; costs of the appeal to neither party.