The Carnival 2025 season is unfortunately over and the tabanca is probably just about wearing off. Every year Carnival brings out at least one interesting intellectual property issue. This year’s copyright matter concerning Trinidad Killa’s unauthorised use of Full Blown’s Big Links Riddim is the gift that keeps on giving. The Clover® Blog covered the initial copyright issues behind Trinidad Killa’s infringing song here. However, while out and about for Carnival it was evidently apparent that the matter was far from finished. The Big Links Riddim continued to be popular throughout the Carnival season and Trinidad Killa’s original version of Eskimo was continuously played by djays despite the fact that a new rerecorded version was released to avoid potential copyright infringement.

The continued playing of the infringing version of Eskimo was interesting from a copyright perspective because it demonstrated a high-risk tolerance that is potentially attributable to ignorance about copyright law. We heard the original version of Eskimo at multiple Carnival fetes and on the road, Carnival Monday and Tuesday. The sole purpose of this blog post is to bring awareness to the fact that it is not only the performer and/or creator of an infringing song that is at risk of being sued for copyright infringement. Instead, a range of persons/entities are potentially liable for copyright infringement in playing the original infringing version of Eskimo. This includes:

Djays – Djays who played the original version of Eskimo are potentially liable for three acts of copyright infringement. Firstly, possessing copies of the song amounts to reproduction infringement. Secondly, playing of the song in live performances constitutes an act of public performance. Finally, including the song in djay mixes online or uploading the song to different online media platforms amount to an infringement of the right of communication to the public. Djays are liable for these acts in their own individual capacity.

Radio stations – Similar to djays, radio stations that broadcast the original version of Eskimo are also liable for infringing the broadcasting right and the right of communication to the public. Additionally, if the radio station had knowledge that the djays would play the infringing song they would also be potentially secondarily liable for copyright infringement given that the djays are under their control as employees.  

Event promoters and Carnival Bands – Unlike the djays and radio stations that may be directly liable for copyright infringement, event promoters and Carnival bands that hired djays who play the original version of Eskimo are potentially secondarily liable for copyright infringement vicariously because they employ the djays to play music. If there is knowledge that the infringing song would be played, potential liability ensues.

As such, Full Blown’s range of potential targets for litigation are not limited to Trinidad Killa. Furthermore, persons would be wise to understand the types of risks they expose themselves to when using infringing copyright works. Contact Clover® today to assess the risks in your business or profession.

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