A Missouri man is suing a Frisco-based sports and comedy entertainment group and two other entities in Sherman federal court on allegations they infringed on his copyrights in the instrumental composition and sound-recording of an instrumental song.
Adam Crask’s lawsuit, filed Aug. 17 in the Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas, claims Dude Perfect, LLC; The Integer Group, LLC; and Pringles LLC used the musical piece in question, titled “Go Bananas”, in a nationwide advertising campaign promoting Pringles’ products without Crask’s permission.
Court documents explain that Crask, who is professionally known as Skyy Stylez, created “Go Bananas” on Jan. 11, 2011, and registered both the musical composition and the sound recording of the song with the United States Copyright Office bearing the registration No. SRu001175263 on July 9, 2014.
According to the suit, Dude Perfect, which specializes in trick shots and a variety of sports related stunts with an emphasis on social media and viral videos, posted three videos containing portions of “Go Bananas” in February 2014. The videos reportedly garnered a minimum of 10,000 views as of this month.
Integer, a full service marketing agency, partnered with Dude Perfect and Pringles to launch the campaign called Pringles FlavorSlam with the intention to “drive a ten percent increase in sales of Pringles’ products by appealing to the mass public” during the 2014 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament.
The suit shows Integer came up with a video using parts of “Go Bananas” without authorization and uploaded it to two sites between May 2014 and January of this year.
Pringles is asserted to have posted the fifth video featuring unauthorized usage of certain portions of “Go Bananas”.
Crask says the infringement enabled Integer to win “a myriad of awards” given the success of the Pringles FlavorSlam campaign.
“As producer of the infringing videos and administrator of the Pringles FlavorSlam advertising campaign throughout social media, defendants Dude Perfect and Integer have the right and ability to control and supervise Pringles and others’ infringement of the plaintiff’s copyright,” the original petition says. “By authorizing the exploitation of the infringing videos, defendants Dude Perfect and Integer have failed to supervise and control Pringles and others’ infringement of the plaintiff’s copyright.”
Consequently, Crask seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
He is represented by attorney Eric F. Kayira of the law firm Kayira Law, LLC in St. Louis, Mo.
Sherman Division of the Eastern Division of Texas Case No. 4:15-CV-558