Sirius in $100M Class Action Lawsuit Over Pre-1972 Music

Satellite radio company Sirius XM Radio must face a class action lawsuit accusing the company of owing millions of dollars in royalty fees to artists of pre-1972 music after U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez denied their motion to dismiss. With this, the lawsuit stays in California, making it the fifth class action lawsuit that Sirius is facing over the matter.

The proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Sirius XM infringed on millions of older recordings from thousands of artists, dating back to 1972. The projected damages is within the area of $100 million, though reports are saying that figure is conservative.

The class action lawsuit’s lead plaintiffs are Flo & Eddie of The Turtles, the band whose claim to fame are the hit songs “Happy Together,” “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “She’d Rather Be With Me.”

It should be noted that it was on Feb. 15, 1972, when sound recordings were placed under the federal copyright protection. Prior to that day, the subject of copyright protection is a gray area and is subject to anyone’s interpretation.<

According to the class action lawsuit, since 1971, “Flo & Eddie has owned the entire catalog of 100 original master recordings by The Turtles, all of which were recorded prior to Feb. 15, 1972. Notwithstanding the absence of any license or authorization from Plaintiff, The Turtles recordings can be heard every hour of every day by subscribers in California to the satellite and Internet services” owned by Sirius Satellite Radio.

The Plaintiff filed the class action lawsuit on its own behalf and on behalf of all similarly situated owners of pre-1972 recordings to put an end to Sirius’ alleged “wholesale misappropriation of their Pre-1972 Recordings and to obtain damages, including punitive damages.”

The class action lawsuit further states that the satellite radio company “disregarded the plaintiff’s and other Class Members ‘exclusive ownership’ of their Pre-1972 Recordings” for its own financial gain.

The class action lawsuit added that the “United States Congress expressly has recognized that the states provide exclusive protection through various state law doctrines to recordings ‘fixed’ before Feb. 15, 1972, and that the federal Copyright Act does not “annul or limit[]those rights until Feb. 15, 2067.” The lawsuit cited California Civil Code 980(a)(2) which protects the exclusive ownership of plaintiff and other Class Members to their Pre-1972 Recordings in California.

According to the class action lawsuit, Sirius engages in large-scale distribution and public performances of sound recordings to its 24 million subscribers. The satellite radio allegedly, without any license or authority, copied the plaintiff’s and each Class Members’ pre-1972 recordings “onto the Service’s central server(s) and makes such copies available to its subscribers in California. With this, the plaintiff and Class Members claimed that Sirius has disregarded their “exclusive ownership” of their pre-1972 recordings in California.

The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages in excess of $100 million; punitive and exemplary damages; restitution of defendants’ unlawful proceeds, including defendants’ gross profits; and temporary, preliminary, and permanent injunction enjoining and restraining defendants from directly or indirectly infringing in any manner any right in any and all of the pre-1972 recordings.

This Sirius XM Royalties Class Action Lawsuit is Flo & Eddie Inc. v. Sirius XM Radio Inc., Case No. BC517032 under the Superior Court of The State of California for the County of Los Angeles, Central District.

UPDATE: Class Members who want to be excluded from the class action lawsuit must submit a written request by Aug. 30, 2016. A trial date has been set for Nov. 15, 2016. Keep checking Top Class Actions for more updates on this case as they become available. 

UPDATE 2: The Sirius XM pre-1972 sound recordings class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.