In July, Aimee Mann brought a noteworthy lawsuit over the possible existence of a massive amount of unlicensed music being streamed online.
In the cross-hairs of Mann’s multimillion-dollar legal claims was a company called MediaNet, originally backed by EMI, AOL, BMG and RealNetworks before being taken over by a private equity firm. MediaNet is essentially a white label that has served up more than 22 million songs to more than 40 music services, including Yahoo Music, Playlist.com, eBay and various online radio services.
Mann sued the company for allegedly infringing 120 of her songs, saying that a license agreement signed in 2003 expired three years later. There was also hint that she wasn’t alone. Her lawyer told The Hollywood Reporter at the time that the lawsuit served “as a call to other artists to follow the lead set by Radiohead and Pink Floyd to put an end to the unlicensed, uncompensated use of their music by online services.”
In reaction to the lawsuit, MediaNet maintained it had a valid license. On Friday, however, a California federal judge punched a big hole in this defense.
READ THE FULL POST AT BILLBOARD:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5812305/aimee-mann-wins-first-round-of-digital-music-lawsuit
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