The National Hockey League is being sued in the United States over alleged “rampant” music copyright infringement in social media posts.
The lawsuit was filed in California on Thursday (September 12) by Associated Production Music, which is co-owned by Sony. music publishing and global music Publishing Group (none is named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit).
Lawsuit arrives a week after APM filed suit against pharma giant Johnson & Johnsonit is also said that Use music in promotional videos posted to YouTube and Facebook without permission.
Similar to the Johnson & Johnson lawsuit, the latest legal action stems from APM Also against three claims American HLdirect, contributory and indirect copyright infringement. APM demands a jury trial.
The lawsuit also names as defendants the companies that operate nine teams, including the Hershey Bears, Ontario Reign, Syracuse Crutcheon, Tucson Roadrunners, Colorado Eagles, Cleveland Monsters, Rockford IceHogs and Belleville Senators.
As noted in the APM lawsuit, the American Hockey League is the developmental league of the National Hockey League.
APM claims in lawsuit “AHL’s popularity is at an all-time high” and “in pursuing potential third-party corporate partnerships,” AHL allegedly issued a statement “discussing the importance of social media marketing.”
The AHL’s statement noted that the league has a “steady presence” on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, exceeding 3.25 million followers.
According to a lawsuit filed last week and obtained MBW, APM It said it was “aware of rampant infringement of these recordings by AHL teams by utilizing them in numerous promotional posts on team-specific social media channels.”
“Furthermore, despite APM contacting AHL multiple times regarding its unauthorized use of the recordings, AHL has refused to obtain appropriate permission or admit wrongdoing.”
APM litigation
The lawsuit, which you can read in full here, adds: “Defendants did not at any time obtain APM’s permission, authorization or consent to synchronize the recordings with the infringing videos.
“Furthermore, despite APM contacting AHL multiple times regarding its unauthorized use of the recordings, AHL has refused to obtain appropriate permission or admit wrongdoing.”
APM claims its production music catalog is “the largest, deepest and most extensive collection of music in the production music industry.”
The company said in the lawsuit and on its website that its catalog consists of multiple “diverse and popular production music libraries,” including KPM Music, Bruton, Sonoton, Cezame and Kosinus.
APM points out in the lawsuit that some of its most famous tracks are heavy action (aka Monday Night Football theme), One size larger (also known as “The Subject of the People’s Court”), and sweet victory (Excerpted from the “SpongeBob SquarePants” episode geek band).
APM’s music has also been synchronized on major entertainment assets, such as “GLOW”, “This Is Us”, “Westworld”, “The Americans”, “Stranger Things”, “Atlanta”, “Game of Thrones”, “SpongeBob SquarePants”, “The Ren & Stimpy Show”, “Lady Bird,” “Mudbound,” “The Disaster Artist,” “The Big Sick,” “The Shape of Water.” Call of Duty: Infinity War, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, this saints row series, and MLB: The Show.
The lawsuit against the NHL marks the latest American professional sports league to be embroiled in litigation over the alleged use of music in promotional social media posts without permission.
In July, 14 NBA teams were hit with a lawsuit 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.
APM’s lawsuits against the NHL and Johnson & Johnson also form part of a broader trend in which prominent figures in the music industry file lawsuits against U.S. companies over the use of unlicensed music in promotional social media posts.
For example, in May, Sony Music Entertainment (SME) filed a lawsuit against Marriott International in the United States, accusing the hotel company of “willfully” infringing copyright in social media posts.
In 2021, Sony will gymnastics sharkaccused the fitness clothing brand of infringing the copyright of 297 recordings in its advertisements. The two companies settled out of court in 2022.
In November last year, small and medium-sized enterprises filed a lawsuit French Financial Supervisory Authorityaccused the cosmetics brand of “blatantly, intentionally, and repeatedly succeeding in infringing the copyrights of sound recordings and musical works of various content owners” in social media posts, including “hundreds” of Sony Music recordings.global music business
