Sandra A. Crawshaw-Sparks

When you're brought into a music infringement case, Crawshaw-Sparks said the first step is usually pretty straightforward: listen to the songs.

Since she doesn't have a formal music education background, the analysis doesn't end at her ears. Once she's gotten some second opinions from her colleagues at Proskauer Rose -- many of whom have that music education background -- Crawshaw-Sparks said she generally has a good idea what a musicologist's analysis might look like.

She applied that headphone analysis to a $5 million copyright infringement against the band U2 brought over its 1991 song "The Fly." Crawshaw-Sparks said she couldn't hear the alleged link between the U2 song and the plaintiff's song and her team couldn't, either. Rose v. Hewson et al., 17-cv-01471 (S.D. N.Y. 2018).

A judge granted U2's first motion to dismiss, in which Crawshaw-Sparks argued the alleged similarities between the two songs were too obtuse to be actionable. When the plaintiff filed an amended complaint with more details of the alleged infringement, Crawshaw-Sparks said the lack of similarity had only been made clearer.

"Now that we've got this more fulsome statement of what's allegedly similar, we can show that there really is no there, there," Crawshaw-Sparks said.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote took "the brave step" of listening to the music, Crawshaw-Sparks said, and dismissed the case after finding no actionable similarity between the two.

In another infringement suit, Crawshaw-Sparks represented Ariana Grande and Universal Music Group in a copyright infringement case brought over the musical composition to Grande's song "One Last Time." Though the terms of a settlement agreement are confidential, Crawshaw-Sparks said it was amicably resolved on favorable terms. Greggs v. Grande Butera et al., 16-cv-06320 (C.D. Cal., filed Aug. 23, 2016).

Sparks represented Madonna in a lengthy copyright infringement case centered on an alleged sample of a 1970s soul record in her song "Vogue." VMG Salsoul, LLC v. Ciccone, 13-57104 (9th Cir. 2016).

The case, which resulted in a finding of no liability both at the district court level and in the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, notably created a circuit split between the 9th Circuit and the 6th Circuit's holding that de minimus use is not a defense in a sampling case.

-- Steven Crighton