Artists including Michael Jackson and Will Smith and distributors Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group have been sued for copyright infringement for the use of the song ‘Different Strokes’.

Sylvester Thompson of Cook County, Ill., and Sly-Zel Music Co. and Twilight Record Co. claim in a complaint filed Friday in federal court
in Chicago that since 1991 the defendants were “substantially copying, publicly performing, making and distributing or authorizing the making and distributing” of records.

The other defendants named in the complaint are the estate of Tupac Shakur, KRS One and Boogie Down Production (aka Lawrence Parker), Peedi Crakk & Young Chris, Mijac Music, EMI/Capitol Records, Zomba Enterprises, Amaru Entertainment, and Universal Publishing.

The plaintiffs asked the court to prohibit the companies from distributing records that may further infringe on the song’s copyright, first issued in 1967. They also seek unspecified damages.

Source: Houston Chronicle