Music labels suing Twitter (and now X) for copyright infringement can move forward with parts of their lawsuits. In a filing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger partially denied Company X’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it was unclear “to what extent Company
Last year, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) sued Company X for $250 million on behalf of Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group, Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music and other major publishers.
The lawsuit alleges that X’s failure to take action on posts containing copyrighted music “enabled massive copyright infringement to the detriment of music creators.” Copyright issues on X have been an issue even before Elon Musk took over, with the lawsuit claiming the NMPA began sending infringement notices to Twitter “on a weekly basis” in December 2021.
The court upheld some of the NMPA’s claims, including an allegation that X “allowed users to pay for more lenient treatment under its anti-infringement policies” through its paid subscription, which allowed users to upload longer videos. It also denied X’s motion to dismiss the NMPA’s claim that X failed to respond to claims in a timely manner and failed to take appropriate action against “repeat infringers.”
However, the judge agreed to reject the State Food and Drug Administration’s accusation that X engaged in direct copyright infringement and that the platform was “indirectly responsible” for users’ direct infringement.
“As the Supreme Court has recognized, ‘the lines between direct infringement, contributory infringement and vicarious liability are not clearly drawn,'” Trauger wrote. “The ultimate question raised in this case is whether and to what extent X Corp. may be liable for the infringements of users on its platform.” As the lawsuit progressed, the judge noted that , as do the platform’s financial incentives to “tolerate infringement.”