Robert A. Jacobs

As a go-to music industry litigator, Jacobs advises both talent-side and corporate clients facing high-profile disputes that often explore new or untested areas of law.

"I'm very busy with interesting issues coming up," he said. "The pandemic hasn't slowed the thirst for litigation."

As lead counsel for rapper Megan Thee Stallion's record label 300 Entertainment, Jacobs turned away pre-litigation claims by the creator of the TikTok dance known as the "Savage Challenge" used in the lyric video for Stallion's "Savage." The song won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 2021 Grammy Awards.

In "Savage," Megan Thee Stallion inadvertently foretold the outcome of the case when she rapped the line, "I'm way too exclusive..."

Jacobs said the claims by dance creator Keara Wilson were baseless.

"Everybody on Megan's side did the right thing," he said. "They were going to offer to compensate her [Wilson] and license the rights to her dance. She threatened to sue anyway."

Wilson sent an extensive demand letter alleging that use of the dance in the video violated her rights under the Copyright Act, the Lanham Act and various state law theories.

"We sent an extensive response," Jacobs said, demonstrating that none of the claims could succeed. The letter was effective: within ten weeks after his client received Wilson's claims, she agreed not to sue and settled on favorable terms.

"TikTok is the platform of choice to promote music, but that doesn't confer rights," Jacobs said.

A Manatt team led by Jacobs served as lead counsel for the producer and DJ Marshmello (Christopher Comstock), U.K. producer and songwriter Steve Mac and Polygram Publishing Inc. and Kobalt Music Publishing America in defending a copyright infringement suit filed by Russian electronic DJ Artem Stoliarov, who performs as Arty.

The plaintiff alleged Marshmello's hit song "Happier" infringed Stoliarov's copyright in the One Republic song, "I Lived (Arty Remix)." Stoliarov v. Marshmello Creative LLC, 19-CV03934 (C.D. Cal., filed May 6, 2019).

"It's developed into an interesting situation, an industry-wide issue," Jacobs said of the case. "You hire remixers to come in and add flourishes here and there and then move on. They don't get rights in the recording, or, if they do, it's done very specifically."

"Here the plaintiff claimed he owns what he contributed and sued on that basis -- which is why there's a lot of industry focus on the case."

Jacobs and his team filed a series of summary judgment motions on February 22, 2021 asking the court, among other things, to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis that Stoliarov owned no rights in the song that sued over. The court granted the motions in full in a series of three decisions issued on April 8, 2021, concluding the case in a major win for Jacobs' clients.

Jacobs' summary judgment motion will be heard this month.

He noted that his job deals with a musical realm that can act as a tonic in an otherwise hurting era.

"It's hard to miss the pain in the world these days," Jacobs said. "More than ever, music and other forms of entertainment offer a necessary and welcome respite from the pressures we're under."

He pointed out that many artists are unusually productive.

"It's a time of great creativity for a lot of people who can't perform live," Jacobs said. "They tend to put out introspective and heartfelt reflections of our times."

-- John Roemer