Fourteen NBA teams have been sued in the United States, accusing professional basketball franchises of using copyrighted music without permission in promotional videos posted to their social media channels and the official NBA.com website.
The lawsuits, filed by Kobalt Music Publishing, Artist Publishing Group and others, target some of the highest-ranked teams in the 2023-2024 season, including new york knicks, cleveland cavaliers, denver nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Also facing litigation are the atlanta hawks, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, orlando magic, Philadelphia 76ers, phoenix suns, Portland Trail Blazers, sacramento kingsand San Antonio Spurs.
All 14 lawsuits were filed on Thursday (July 18) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that the teams involved synchronized the copyrighted music with the videos in question “without the plaintiff’s permission, authorization or consent.”
The list of publisher plaintiffs varies from lawsuit to lawsuit, depending on the allegedly infringing songs, but all complaints are directed against Kobalt Music Publishing, which serves as the exclusive licensing agent for all songs in question, according to the publisher’s legal action.
Artist Publishing Group, Artist Publishing Group MacCallum– Start an independent company Artist Partner GroupNamed as plaintiff in all actions except against miami heatyou can read the full article here.
The complaint alleges that NBA teams are “acutely aware of the protections afforded by U.S. copyright law” because they all own their own copyrights.
NBA teams take advantage of “all legal protections available to them” [their] possesses intellectual property rights while knowingly and willfully infringing upon Plaintiffs’ intellectual property rights,” all lawsuits are similarly worded.
Complaints against the New York Knicks (which can be viewed here) list 23 allegedly infringing tracks Appearing in team videos Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook channel and NBA.com. The tracks include Dua Lipaof Don’t start now and busta rhyme‘ Put your hands where I can see them.
Complaints against the Orlando Magic (which can be viewed here) are listed 37 allegedly infringing tracksinclude Main laservery popular lean on feat. Mo & DJ Snakeas well as tracks recorded by NBA legends– Shaquille O’Nealof (I know I have) Skillzfrom his 1993 debut album.
Complaint filed against the Cleveland Cavaliers (which can be viewed here) alleges assault 16 songsinclude 3LAU Mixed Grande Arianaof into youand Jason Deruloof Hello feat. nicki minaj and You dora$ign.
The complaint against the Indiana Pacers, which can be viewed here , alleges violations of only one track – Austin Mahoneof um, yes feat. pit bull.
“Defendants are acutely aware of the protections afforded by U.S. copyright law… [They utilize] Full legal protection available [their] possesses intellectual property rights and at the same time intentionally infringes upon the plaintiff’s intellectual property rights.
APG and Kobalt’s legal complaint against NBA team
As of Monday (July 22), many, if not all, of the videos listed in the lawsuit are no longer available on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and NBA.com.
“The right to reproduce, distribute and/or publicly perform the video by licensing[s], [the NBA teams] Inducing and encouraging these websites to directly infringe Plaintiffs’ copyrights,” the complaint states.
Lawsuit seeks statutory maximum $150,000 Each direct, contributory, and indirect copyright infringement, depending on the amount of infringement, may result in millions of dollars in losses to the relevant NBA team.
Major music industry players have launched a series of copyright infringement lawsuits in recent weeks, targeting the basketball team.
In late June, record companies owned by the three major music giants—— Sony Music Group, universal music group and Warner Music Group – Suing the company behind the artificial intelligence music generator sun and sharearguing that these techniques were trained on copyrighted music without the owner’s permission.
Recently, all three majors, as well as ABKCOMusicsue VerizonOne of the largest Internet service providers in the United States called it “massive copyright infringement committed by tens of thousands of users.”
In recent years, lawsuits against companies that use music in social media posts without permission have also become commonplace in the music industry. For example, in 2021, Sony Music sued fitness brand Gymshark for infringement of 297 recordings in its advertisements.
In May this year, Sony Music filed a lawsuit against Marriott International in the United States, accusing the hotel company of “willfully” infringing the copyright of social media posts.global music business
