pple is being sued by an Oklahoma woman, who claims a TV interview she gave was sampled and sold on iTunes without her consent.
Kimberly Wilkins, who also goes by the name Sweet Brown, was interviewed by local TV after her home caught fire in April last year. Her excitable report that "I got bronchitis! Ain't nobody got time for that!" went viral, turning her overnight into an internet celebrity.
Wilkins' suit alleges that Seattle's Bob Rivers Show, which ran a follow-up interview the next day, then produced a song called 'I Got Bronchitis', which sampled a number of her phrases without her consent. This song went on sale on iTunes on 10 April, two days after the original interview, and was available until 09 June 2012.
The lawsuit originally sought $15m from Apple (the local radio station's owner and employees are also named) but a revised filing no longer specifies an amount.
"At no time did Sweet Brown consent or agree to have her name, likeness, voice, statements [or] photograph used in connection with any products, songs, video productions, merchandise, goods, advertisements or solicitations for merchandise, goods or services," the lawsuit states.
