Judge Sides With BMI Over Justice Dept. On Consent Decree

Court Victory

Federal Judge LOUIS STANTON has rejected the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE's (DOJ) recent interpretation of the BMI consent decree, ruling that BMI is free to engage in the fractional licensing of musical works. This decision immediately followed oral arguments heard today from both parties. Judge STANTON's ruling is now the controlling interpretation of the BMI consent decree; a copy of the ruling be found here.

BMI Pres./CEO MIKE O'NEILL released the following statement on the ruling: "As we have said from the very beginning, we believed our consent decree allowed for the decades-long practice of fractional licensing and today we are gratified that Judge STANTON confirmed that belief. Our mission has always been to protect the interests of our songwriters, composers and publishers, and we feel we have done just that. Today's decision is a victory for the entire music community."

Added ASCAP CEO BETH MATTHEWS, "This is terrific news for all of us in the songwriting community as we continue to work on modernizing the consent decrees to reflect the real world."

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