Lawsuit: Company Illegally Sold CDs

By Christina Hoag, The Miami Herald

Mar. 25–Latin music superstars Willy Chirino and Lissette Alvarez sued a Miami karaoke-recording company on Friday, charging that it is illegally selling CDs with their photos and compositions.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court as a class-action suit on behalf of all Latin music artists against Tropical Zone Group and its principal Tomas Gorrio.

Gorrio was not in the office on Friday and could not be reached, a receptionist said.

Chirino’s lawyer, Richard Wolfe of Wolfe & Goldstein in Miami, said Tropical Zone did not obtain permission from the artists to market its Latin Stars series, which includes about 300 CDs, over the past three years.

‘They never cleared the rights to the compositions and they’re using the artists’ names and photos to sell the product," Wolfe said.

Although the CDs are "covers" — when another artist sings someone else’s songs — the company still needs to obtain rights to use the compositions, he said.

Additionally, the use of the original artists’ names and photos on the covers leads buyers to believe that it is the original performer on the CD, Wolfe said.

There is a small disclaimer on the back of the CD that it is not the original artist.

The artists are requesting that Tropical Zone stop distributing the CDs and pay the artists royalties and punitive damages.

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