Labels Sue Over Previous Data, Dua Lipa Should Face Copyright Case & Extra Prime Authorized Information

That is The Authorized Beat, a weekly publication about music legislation from Billboard Professional, providing you a one-stop cheat sheet of huge new instances, necessary rulings and all of the enjoyable stuff in between.

This week: File labels sue the Web Archive over a undertaking to digitize outdated data; Dua Lipa loses a bid to dismiss one of many “Levitating” copyright lawsuits; a federal choose questions the equity of Stay Nation’s arbitration agreements with ticket consumers; and rather more.

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THE BIG STORY: Historic Preservation or Blatant Infringement?

Like nearly something implicating copyright legislation, the Nice 78 Venture is one thing of a Rorschach check.

To the Web Archive, it’s a undertaking of “preservation, research and discovery,” aimed toward making a “digital reference collection of underrepresented artists and genres.” Digitizing a whole lot of hundreds of outdated 78rpm data is a much-needed effort to “ensure the survival of these cultural materials for future generations to study and enjoy.”

However in keeping with a brand new lawsuit filed final week by Common Music, Sony Music and Harmony, the Nice 78 is nothing greater than “blatant” copyright infringement underneath a “smokescreen” of preservation.

“The Great 78 website is a massive, unauthorized, digital record store of recordings,” attorneys for the music firms wrote within the large lawsuit this week, which claims the Web Archive infringed greater than 2,700 songs and doubtlessly owes as a lot as $412 million in damages.

“Although Internet Archive describes the Great 78 Project’s goal as ‘the preservation, research and discovery of 78 rpm records,’ the Great 78 Project is actually an illegal effort to willfully defy copyright law on an astonishing scale,” the labels wrote.

At difficulty within the case are so-called pre-1972 songs — a class of music that was, when the Nice 78 Venture launched in 2006, not coated by federal sound recording copyrights. However in 2018, federal lawmakers prolonged such safety to the outdated data as a part of the Music Modernization Act.

Whereas the brand new legislation contained carveouts that allowed “non-commercial” makes use of of sure outdated data, the labels say the Web Archive merely “ignored the new law and plowed forward as if the Music Modernization Act had never been enacted.”

For extra, go learn our full breakdown of the lawsuit, together with entry to the precise authorized grievance filed in opposition to the Web Archive.

Different high tales…

10 YEARS FOR TORY LANEZ – The rapper was sentenced to 10 years in jail for taking pictures Megan Thee Stallion within the foot, capping off three years of authorized drama over the violent 2020 incident. The sentence was a lot harsher than the penalty sought by Lanez’s attorneys (simply probation) however lower than the 13 years that prosecutors had requested.

DUA LIPA CAN’T BEAT DISCO CASE – A federal choose dominated that Dua Lipa should face a copyright lawsuit accusing her of copying “Levitating” from a 1979 disco tune, refusing the star’s early bid to finish the case. Although she dominated that Lipa’s accusers had failed to indicate that the pop star had ever heard the tune she was accused of copying, the choose mentioned that they had proven “just enough” to proceed on their declare that the tune was so “strikingly similar” that it constitutes infringement.

TWITTER FIRES BACK AT PUBLISHERS – Twitter filed its first actual response to a lawsuit from music publishers alleging widespread copyright infringement on the platform, arguing that it can’t be held accountable for the actions of its customers. The case claims that Twitter infringed over 1,700 completely different songs from writers like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, however in a movement to dismiss the case, attorneys for the Elon Musk-owned website (now rebranded to X) mentioned the corporate itself was not on the hook for unlawful posts by its customers.

The 1975 KISS FALLOUT CONTINUES – The organizers of a Malaysian music pageant are looking for 12.3 million ringgit ($2.7 million) in losses from British band The 1975 after lead singer Matty Healy’s on-stage protest of the nation’s anti-gay legal guidelines prompted authorities to close down the pageant.

NO ARBITRATION FOR LIVE NATION – A federal choose dominated in opposition to Stay Nation in an antitrust lawsuit over allegations of inflated ticket costs, declaring that the case ought to proceed as a federal class motion slightly than by way of personal arbitration. Concertgoers decide into that out-of-court course of after they purchase tickets, however the choose dominated that the arbitration course of posed a “serious risk of being fundamentally unfair” to customers: “Because Defendants are often in effect the only ticketing game in town, would-be concertgoers are forced to accept Defendants’ [arbitration agreement] in full, or else forego the opportunity to attend events altogether.”