Poet files copyright lawsuit against Insane Clown Posse
Posted March 30, 2017 2:25 pm.
Last Updated March 30, 2017 3:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DETROIT – An Ohio man says Detroit rap-metal group the Insane Clown Posse and member Joseph Bruce used a poem he wrote without his consent.
Stanley Gebhardt filed the copyright infringement suit Tuesday in federal court in Detroit.
It seeks monetary damages and asks a judge to force Bruce and the group to stop using Gebhardt’s “But You Didn’t.”
The suit says the poem, about a father-son relationship, was copyrighted in 1993.
Gebhardt’s attorney, Michael Dezsi, tells the Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/2oCXtwB ) his client learned in 2015 that a video of Bruce reciting the poem had been posted on YouTube. Bruce, who goes by the stage name Violent J, called it “Violent J’s Poem.”
The Associated Press left a voicemail Thursday seeking comment from attorney Howard Hertz, who represents the Insane Clown Posse.
