Musk Files Motion To Dismiss Music Publisher’s Copyright Lawsuit

X (formerly Twitter)

In JUNE, X (formerly known as TWITTER) was named in a lawsuit brought by SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING, WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC, and several independent music publishers over then-TWITTER’s lack of agreements with music rights holders. 

The suit, which names ELON MUSK’s X Corp. as the sole defendant, alleges what it claims was “rampant infringement of copyrighted music” on the platform, and is seeking in excess of $250 million in damages for what it claims is “hundreds of thousands” of alleged infringements of approximately 1,700 works.

The suit contends, “While numerous TWITTER competitors respect the need for proper licenses and agreements for the use of musical compositions on their platforms, TWITTER does not, and instead breeds massive copyright infringement that harms music creators.”

TWITTER has now filed a motion in a TENNESSEE court to dismiss the case, writing in their legal challenge, “the Court should dismiss Plaintiffs’ first count for direct copyright infringement because the Complaint does not contend that X acted with the requisite ‘volitional’ conduct. Second, the Court should dismiss Plaintiffs’ second count for contributory infringement because Plaintiffs do not allege that X encouraged, induced, or intended to foster the infringement of Plaintiffs’ works. Third, the Court should dismiss Plaintiffs’ third count for vicarious infringement because Plaintiffs do not allege that the ability to post infringing content to the X platform is a draw to users sufficient to confer an ‘obvious and direct’ financial benefit to X, or that X had the practical ability to supervise the alleged infringement.”

MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE has more details on the lawsuit here.

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