Apple stands accusing of breaking the US Copyright Act by streaming copyrighted songs through Apple Music without the right permissions.
The company Pro Music Rights (PRM) filed its complaint in New York on Wednesday. It describes unpaid royalties and ongoing infringement relating to a number of songs. PMR licenses a couple of million tracks, including works from artists such as A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Pharrell, Gucci Mane, and others.
PRM was founded by Jake P. Noch, a 20-year-old entrepreneur. According to PRM, it controls a market share of 7.4% of the public performance rights market in the United States. Noch is a “musical prodigy,” the lawsuit claims.
According to the suit, PMR contacted Apple in June 2018 about its use of protected music streaming. The Statutory Licensing Division of Music Reports, on behalf of Apple, replied with a note of its intent to obtain a license. But this didn’t happen. “Despite PMR’s persistent efforts, Apple failed to enter into a license agreement,” the suit says.
PMR has previously filed a similar suit against Spotify. It claimed that Spotify owed it $1 billion for failure to pay royalties on 550 million streams. PMR is seeking a jury trial against Apple. It’s pursuing damages of $150,000 per act of “willful infringement” on the part of Apple.
We’ll keep you updated about what happens in the suit.
Via: Apple Insider
