GERMANY (CelebrityAccess) – Legendary rocker Eric Clapton sued and won a lawsuit brought against a German woman, only known as “Gabriele P.”, when she tried to sell a bootlegged copy of one of his concerts on eBay. The CD, called Eric Clapton – Live USA was listed on eBay for about $11.20 for one day before it was removed. Clapton received word of the posting, filed an affidavit (a declaration of facts), and the court has ruled in his favor. At the conclusion of the trial, the judge required “Gabriele P.” to pay the legal fees for both parties, which ended up being approximately $4,000. A far cry from the original posting amount on eBay.
The defendant, who lives in the small German village of Ratingen, outside Cologne, claimed her husband purchased the CD at a popular department store in 1987 and she did not realize the CD recording was illegal or violated any copyright laws. The judge in the case ruled that didn’t matter, as she was the party who posted the CD for purchase on the popular auction website. According to the German news outlet DW, she faces up to 6 months in prison if she tries to sell the bootleg recording in the future. Klaus Gunther, her attorney told the press that she planned to appeal the decision.
Clapton is one of a handful of artists who have sued in the German courts over copyright infringement and have won. Michael Eaton, Clapton’s business manager told The Washington Post, “Germany is a country where sales of bootleg and counterfeit CDs are rife.” According to The Daily Mail UK, Clapton’s team attempted to contact the woman and demanded she remove the CD from eBay, but she declined and asked them to stop contacting her. The Guardian reports that she told Clapton’s team that if he was so bothered with her sale, they should go ahead and sue her. Be careful what you ask for.
