SiriusXM facing several copyright lawsuits

SiriusXM satellite radio is under fire once again for allegedly failing to pay artist performance royalties for some of the music it broadcasts.

According to a report by Billboard, Sony Music Entertainment, UMG Records, Warner Music Group and ABKCO have all filed lawsuits against SiriusXM, accusing the company of not offering compensation when it plays pre-1972 music.

This year is important. Federal copyright law protects master recordings created after 1972. However, the recording companies claim that state laws go further and protect ownership for earlier music as well. As such, they are seeking a ruling from the California Superior Court.

"It's an outrage that SiriusXM, a multi-billion [dollar] company making a big profit based partly on the popularity of its oldies channels is refusing to pay any artists like me one penny," songwriter/guitarist Steve Cropper told the news source. "That's not right and that needs to be changed." 

The recording companies are seeking damages and preliminary and permanent injunctions for the alleged infractions.

This is but the most recent in a long series of lawsuits being filed against SiriusXM in the past several months, all having to do with supposed underpayment of royalties. For example, last month performers Flo & Eddie of The Turtles brought a $100 million class action suit against the company, as did SoundExchange, which claimed that SiriusXM subtracted recordings created before 1972 from its revenue calculations.

Due to the differing Federal and state intellectual property laws, this may end up being a difficult issue to resolve. In such cases, working with an experienced Phoenix business attorney is the best choice.

Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

This post was written by