Drew Barrymore Slapped with Copyright Infringement Suit

Photo Credit: Drew Barrymore (Instagram)

Drew Barrymore has now been sued for copyright infringement for using an uncleared song in an Instagram post promoting her beauty brand back in 2023.

Drew Barrymore is the latest celebrity to get slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit for using an uncleared sample in a social media post promoting their brand. In Drew’s case, she’s being sued for featuring the song “You Make Me Happy (Acoustic)” by German artist My Sun and Stars in a March 2023 Instagram post promoting her Flower Beauty brand.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed by German company Instinct GmbH in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, Barrymore and her company never secured a sync license for the use of the track in the post promoting her company.

While companies like Instagram and TikTok provide users with access to libraries of music to play over their videos, these are licensed solely for personal use and not for commercial content. Such use, including Barrymore’s Flower Beauty reel, requires a separate sync license—just like a commercial advertisement on TV.

But Instinct’s attorneys assert that “You Make Me Happy,” which has racked up 15.2 million streams on Spotify, was never licensed to social media platforms, and is “not contained in any music libraries licensed to Meta, TikTok, or other social networks.”

“Defendants have never been licensed to use the work at issue in this action for any purpose,” the filing reads. “Defendants copied, publicly performed and distributed the work synchronized to a video advertisement […] without the plaintiff’s permission.”

That wrinkle complicates the litigation against Barrymore compared to numerous other similar sync license lawsuits against celebrities and brands alike. Companies like Chili’s, Crumbl, Marriott, and even NBA teams have felt the wrath of rights holders whose tracks were not secured for sync use on social media.

In July, shoe retailer DSW flipped the script. The company sued Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment over brands having to pay for sync licensing deals for social media use, and not being able to use music on social media secured under blanket licensing agreements. That move came on the heels of Warner Music Group’s lawsuit against DSW for its social media posts using unlicensed tracks by artists like Taylor Swift, Cardi B, and Madonna.