Johnson v. Tuff N Rumble Management, Inc.

Quezergue and Johnson (plaintiffs) registered the copyright to the song It Ain't My Fault in 1964; Johnson later gave Jones (defendant) power of attorney over the song without transferring copyright ownership, but Jones registered a copyright to the song under a different publishing name, claiming ownership transferred "by written agreement," and renewed both prior registrations. The plaintiffs sued for infringement; Jones, acting pro se, never produced a genuine written assignment despite a request for admission, and his supplemental filing offered a purported 1964 assignment clearly created with modern word-processing software, alongside abusive language about the plaintiffs and their counsel.