After months of failed attempts, an investigator’s report says Amyl and the Sniffers were served federal copyright counterclaims through Amy Taylor during the band’s US tour.
Serving court papers on an internationally touring punk band isn’t as straightforward as looking up a business address and knocking on the door.
According to an investigator’s report reviewed by Blunt, photographer Jamie Nelson’s side spent months trying to serve Amy Taylor and parties connected to Amyl and the Sniffers with federal copyright counterclaims in the ongoing dispute over Nelson’s Champagne Problems photo series.
Taylor was already part of the federal case after suing Nelson in December. The service issue related to Amyl and the Sniffers as an entity, which Nelson had added to her copyright counterclaims. According to Nelson, Taylor accepted service as a contact for the band.
Nelson says earlier attempts to serve documents in Australia went nowhere, with paperwork sent to publicly listed business addresses eventually being returned. By June, the operation had moved to the band’s US tour.
- Amy Taylor is the singer of Amyl and the Sniffers.
- Jamie Nelson photographed Taylor for Vogue Portugal.
- Nelson later sold fine art prints from the shoot.
- Taylor says that commercial use was not authorised.
- Nelson says she owns the copyright and can display and sell her work.
- The federal dispute is still ongoing.
The Amy Taylor Photo Dispute: Full Coverage
Catch up on the photos, court filings, statements, failed mediation and the strange legal fight between Amy Taylor and photographer Jamie Nelson.
Read The Full TimelineThe report describes a two-day operation beginning in Milwaukee on June 19, where four investigators were deployed to the band’s show at Henry W. Maier Festival Park.
Before the show, the team walked the venue looking for any way into the backstage area. They found none. The report says security was heavy, access points were monitored and there was no obvious way to approach the band.
The investigators changed tactics.
Front-row tickets were purchased. Sharpie markers were packed. Behind the scenes, a remote coordinator was canvassing hotels, checking possible flight routes from Minneapolis back to Australia and coordinating a standby team in case both venue attempts failed.
The report describes the plan as an “autograph/Sharpie ruse.”
Day one didn’t last long.
According to the report, crowd conditions became “aggressive and physically volatile”. One investigator was allegedly struck in the face, another was knocked to the ground and stepped on, and the operation was abandoned.
The next day the team regrouped in Minneapolis.
This time, investigators located the band’s tour bus before the show and identified a chain-link fence where band members were moving between the backstage area and the venue.
According to the report, investigators again used the autograph request.
As Taylor reached through the fence, investigators handed over the federal court documents, serving them on her as a contact for Amyl and the Sniffers, according to Nelson.
The papers were not a new lawsuit. They were Nelson’s copyright counterclaims against Amyl and the Sniffers as part of the existing federal dispute.
Nelson represented herself in federal court for around six months before recently retaining prominent copyright attorney Stephen Doniger.
She said she decided to release the report because most creators have little understanding of what actually happens once litigation begins.
“People often think filing a lawsuit is the hardest part,” Nelson said. “Sometimes, the biggest challenge is simply serving the other party so the court can move forward with the claims.”
Whether readers see it as clever, bizarre or simply the realities of civil litigation, it’s probably not the way most people imagine federal court papers being served.
The broader copyright dispute between Nelson and Taylor remains ongoing, with another federal hearing scheduled later this month.
Amy Taylor Photo Dispute
A quick guide to how the dispute between Amy Taylor and photographer Jamie Nelson unfolded.
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