Major record labels are suing Internet radio giant Pandora for copyright infringement for using songs recorded before 1972 without paying license fees.
The labels, including divisions of Sony, Warner and Universal, argue that songs such as Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” are not covered by federal copyright law, but they have been protected in common law by states including New York.
In the lawsuit filed in New York state court, the labels claim that artists and labels have been deprived of tens of millions of dollars every year by services such as Pandora.
“Pandora’s refusal to pay Plaintiffs for its use of these recordings is fundamentally unfair,” says the lawsuit.
Other artists whose song copyrights are alleged to have been infringed by Pandora are Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, James Brown and Led Zeppelin.
Pandora streams songs randomly according to artists or genres like “Motown” or “‘60s Oldies.”
The record labels also sued satellite radio company Sirius XM last year in a similar case.
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A Pandora spokeswoman said, “Pandora is confident in its legal position and looks forward to a quick resolution of this matter.”