BMI and 7 music publishers (collectively “Plaintiffs”) have sued a Rome, Georgia establishment, marking BMI’s third filing of a copyright lawsuit in Georgia in just three weeks.

In a copyright infringement complaint filed on February 12, 2013 in the Rome Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Plaintiffs allege that on August 30, 2012, Rome-based La Mara XIV, Inc. d/b/a Las Palmas Mexican Bar & Grill (“the Establishment”), and an individual corporate officer, engaged in “unauthorized public performance” of four copyrighted songs, including “Mama Told Me Not to Come” (a song covered by Three Dog Night in 1970 but written earlier by Randy Newman for Eric Burdon, former frontman of the '60's British Invasion group The Animals) and “I Think We're Alone Now” (originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells).  The complaint does not describe the Establishment’s manner of such performance.

The complaint alleges willful infringement and seeks injunctive relief, statutory damages, and attorneys’ fees under the Copyright Act.  

For information regarding BMI's earlier recent complaints filed in Georgia federal courts, see our prior posts here and here.

The case is Broadcast Music, Inc., et al. v. La Mara XIV, Inc. d/b/a Las Palmas Mexican Bar & Grill, et al., No. 4:13-cv-0032-HLM, filed 02/12/13 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Rome Division, assigned to U.S. District Judge Harold L. Murphy.