LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — A U.S. District Court in Los Angeles has awarded $2.8 million to Memphis-based Elvis Presley Enterprises, SOFA Entertainment and songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller after copyrights on works by Elvis Presley were infringed.
Defendant Passport International and its owner, Dante Pugliese, were ordered to pay the damages and attorney’s fees in the case.
The case revolved around Passport’s manufacture and distribution of a set of eight DVD’s entitled “25th Anniversary Elvis: The Definitive Collection August 16, 1977 – August 16, 2002.”
The 16-hour set included copyrighted works and the rights of publicity owned by the plaintiffs.
The copyrighted materials included home movies recorded by Presley, and subsequently owned by EPE, material from “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and portions of “Ed Sullivan Rock & Roll Classics – Elvis Presley,” owned by SOFA Entertainment. Other unauthorized material was from the EPE-owned “The Elvis 1968 Comeback Special, ‘Aloha From Hawaii,’” and “Elvis In Concert,” which included songs written by Leiber and Stoller. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
