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"This issue is not about copyright infringement. It's about deciding what features are eligible to qualify for a compulsory license and when someone needs to pay extra for services that don't qualify."
——anonymous webcasting company executive

RIAA SEZ: "YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY SUITS!"

Recording Industry Files Suit Against MTVi, MusicMatch, Xact Radio…You May Be Next!
The Recording Industry Association of America filed three new lawsuits Friday (6/8), targeting webcasters MTVi Group, MusicMatch and Xact Radio, accusing them of violating copyrights by offering personalized Web radio services.

The suits come in response to a suit filed against the RIAA by those three webcasters—along with Launch Media, Listen.com and the Digital Media Association—just one week ago (hitsdailydouble.com, 6/4). That suit, according to The Hollywood Reporter, asked a federal court for a declaratory judgment that the personalized streaming music services that the companies provide qualify for statutory licenses under terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

At issue is whether webcasters that allow users to personalize their Internet radio services should be allowed to join the rest of the industry in a coming arbitration process that will set licensing fees for commercial music. Recently, the RIAA asked the U.S. Copyright Office to disqualify webcasters that offer personalized radio services from the arbitration process. The arbitration, which was intended to focus on rates for "plain vanilla" Web radio, is scheduled for summer. Recording industry officials claim webcasters are trying to sneak personalized radio into the proceeding.

In a statement, MTV said on behalf of its online outlet: "We are confident that our MTVi service is in full compliance of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and that we have not infringed any copyright interests."

Inside.com quoted one executive at a webcasting company, who asked to remain anonymous because of the legal conflict, who said, "This issue is not about copyright infringement. It's about deciding what features are eligible to qualify for a compulsory license and when someone needs to pay extra for services that don't qualify."

RIAA chief attorney Cary Sherman said the webcasters' "decision to sue us left us with little choice but to take this action. A district court in New York is already considering this issue, and these related cases should be heard in the same forum."

"Rather than wait for the courts to decide," countered Jonathan Potter, executive director of the Digital Media Association, "the recording industry has initiated unnecessary and punitive actions against webcasters over an honest dispute of the Copyright Act."

The first salvo in this webcasting war of suits was the RIAA’s suit against Launch (hitsdailydouble.com, 5/25), prompting the company to remove its LaunchCast service from its website.

All five major labels are named in Friday's suit against MusicMatch and Xact Radio. According to the Reporter, Warner Music Group and Universal Music did not join Sony, EMI and BMG in the action against MTVi, which has signed several separate label deals that might have influenced this decision.

The RIAA's latest suit additionally asks for the federal court to consolidate all of these cases and for that one to be heard in New York federal court. The Digital Media Association filed its suit in California on the grounds that its co-plaintiffs are more closely associated to that venue.

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