Barry Manilow can’t be smiling about this.
“Mandy” singer Manilow and his husband/manager Garry Kief have been hit with a lawsuit by a man who says they’ve been infringing on his copyright by using a clip of Judy Garland to promote Manilow’s album “My Dream Duets.”
The suit was filed Tuesday in federal court in California by Darryl Payne, who says he’s the sole U.S. copyright owner for “The Judy Garland Show,” produced in 1963 and 1964 and aired on CBS.
The suit says Manilow and Kief engaged in “blatant, intentional and purposeful infringement” on Payne’s copyright on at least one of the episodes. The suit says that Kief “illegally licensed or otherwise authorized use” of audio-video clips from the show, knowing that he didn’t have rights to the work.
According to the suit, Kief is trustee of the Judy Garland Heirs’ Trust, which is also listed as a defendants, as is Kief’s Stiletto Entertainment.
The suit alleges that Judy Garland’s performance of the song “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart” was used for the purpose of allowing Manilow to record and/or promote his album ‘My Dream Duets.’”
According to the suit, the clip was used to create a promotional video for the album, and has been used by Manilow during concert performances.
“Manilow’s performance of the duets with Judy Garland at Manilow’s concerts was achieved by displaying either projections or digital replications of the audio-video clips from the Infringed Work on a large screen that the audience could view and listen to while Manilow performed live on stage interacting with the exhibition of the Infringed Work,” the suit reads.
TheWrap has reached out to Manilow and Kief for comment on the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and an injunction preventing Manilow and Kief from infringing on Payne’s copyright.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.