Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
A lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana by two music publishing companies, Delicate Music and W Chappell Music Corp., against A and R, Inc. and Amy Gatchel. The companies are accusing the defendants of copyright infringement for publicly playing music without proper licensing.
The plaintiffs claim that A and R, Inc., which owns and operates R Bar in South Bend, Indiana, has played songs owned by the plaintiffs without authorization. Amy Gatchel is named in the suit as an individual responsible for managing and operating R Bar. According to the complaint, both the company and Gatchel had control over what music was played at the venue and financially benefited from those performances.
The music in question is part of a large catalog managed by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), a group that licenses music on behalf of its members. ASCAP reportedly tried more than sixty times to contact the defendants through various means, offering them licenses to legally play the music. The complaint states that these offers were consistently refused, and the music continued to be played without permission.
The plaintiffs argue that these unlicensed performances violate copyright law and have caused harm that can’t be fully measured in dollars. As a result, they are asking the court to stop the defendants from playing their music without a license and to award statutory damages of up to $30,000 for each violation. They are also requesting that the defendants cover legal costs and attorney’s fees.
The complaint concludes with a request for any additional relief the court finds appropriate.
The case has been assigned to Judge Cristal C. Brisco and Magistrate Judge Scott J. Frankel in the U.S. District Court of Northern Indiana Case No. 3:25-cv-00534.