ABTSKO Records, which owns the rights to Rolling Stones master recordings before 1970 sued Behr Paint, alleging copyright infringement for using the band's 1966 song “Paint It, Black” in one of its online advertisements.
Complaint filed in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Southern Division, and received Diversity, claims that “Behr, without ABKCO's permission, without paying ABKCO compensation, and for its sole commercial benefit, reproduced, distributed, publicly performed, transmitted, prepared a derivative work embodying, and otherwise used ABKCO's recording in commercial advertising to promote BEHR's products and business.”
It adds: “Behr is a complex, multi-billion dollar corporation that, on information and belief, routinely licenses recorded music for its commercials, but in this case, it inexplicably decided not to pursue a license for 'Paint It, Black.'”
As a result, ABKCO is seeking unspecified damages. The ad appears to have been removed from Behr's trusty Instagram archive, though unofficial versions can be found on the Internet.
Diversity Behr representatives have been contacted for comment.
William Pittenger, ABKCO's general counsel, noted, “The type of commercial use utilized by Behr is subject to some of the most scrutiny in the music licensing world and requires some of the most substantial licensing fees. Due to Behr's decision not to seek or obtain the necessary license, this commercial brand association has been imposed on ABKCO and the artists without any consideration or compensation.”
An online advertisement posted on Behr's official Instagram account shows the house being painted a greyish green instead of black during the song. In one version of the clip found on Instagram, a brief snippet of dialogue from the 1989 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas that uses the song is heard, suggesting that the recording was taken from the film, potentially raising further copyright issues.
“Paint It, Black”, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 and is one of Rolling Stones', although its lyrics, written from the point of view of a man whose worldview is so bleak that he wants to paint everything black, are unusual for advertising with an optimistic tone.
ABKCO, founded by the late former Stones and Beatles business manager Allen Klein, has a long history of aggressively protecting the copyrights it owns and controls. Perhaps the most famous event was Verve's 1997 hit “Bittersweet Symphony.” which samples a five-second portion of the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra's cover of the Stones' “The Last Time.” The Stones agreed to license the segment in exchange for 50 percent of the royalties, but ABKCO claimed the clip was longer and reneged on the agreement. He brought a successful plagiarism case that resulted in Verve relinquishing all royalties and publishing rights to ABKCO and returning songwriting credit to Jagger and Richards. However, this decision was reversed in 2019 when the two Stones signed a publishing deal for “Bittersweet Symphony” with Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft, allowing him to receive all future royalties.
ABKCO is represented by Benjamin S. Ackley and Shamar Toms-Anthony of the law firm Pryor Cashman LLP.
