Debra Laws v. Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., D/B/A Epic Records, a Delaware Corporation

Plaintiff Debra Laws (“Laws”) brought suit against defendant Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. (“Sony”) for misappropriating her voice and name in the song “All I Have” by Jennifer Lopez and L.L. Cool J. The district court found that Sony had obtained a license to use a sample of Laws’s recording of “Very Special” and held that Laws’s claims for violation of her common law right to privacy and her statutory right of publicity were preempted by the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101-1332 . We agree with the district court that the Copyright Act preempts Laws’s claims, and we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

In 1979, professional vocalist and recording artist Debra Laws and Spirit Productions (“Spirit”) entered into a recording agreement with Elektra/Asylum Records (“Elektra”) to produce master recordings of Laws’s vocal performances for Elektra. The agreement gave Elektra the “sole and exclusive right to copyright such master recordings” and “the exclusive worldwide right in perpetuity ... to lease, license, convey or otherwise use or dispose of such master recordings.” Elektra also secured the right “to use and to permit others to use your name, the Artist’s name ... likeness, other…