Arista Records, LLC v. Launch Media, Inc
American legal case
Arista Records, LLC v. LAUNCH Media, Inc., 578 F.3d 148 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2009), is a legal case brought by Arista Records, LLC, Bad Boy Records, BMG Music, and Zomba Recording LLC (collectively, "BMG") alleging that the webcasting service provided by LAUNCH Media, Inc. ("Launch") willfully infringed BMG's sound recording copyrights. The lawsuit concerns the scope of the statutory term "interactive service" codified in 17 U.S.C. § 114, as amended by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 ("DMCA"). If the webcasting service is an interactive service, Launch would be required to pay individual licensing fees to BMG's sound recording copyright holders; otherwise, Launch only need to pay "a statutory licensing fee set by the Copyright Royalty Board."
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the trial court's judgment and ruled in favor of Launch, finding that the webcasting service provided by Launch does not fall within the scope of the definition of an interactive service as a matter of law.
Background
Launch operates an internet radio website by providing a webcasting service (LAUNCHcast), "which enables a user to create 'stations' that play songs that are within a particular genre or similar to a particular artist or song the user selects." The parties did not materially dispute how LAUNCHcast worked. LAUNCHcast is now known as Yahoo! Music Radio. BMG holds the copyrights in the sound recordings of some of the songs played on the service for users, and has the exclusive right "to perform the copyrighted [sound recording] publicly by means of a digital audio transmission."
Trial court proceedings
On May 24, 2001, BMG brought suit, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, against Launch alleging that Launch violated provisions of the DMCA, codified in relevant part in 17 U.S.C. § 114, by providing an interactive service and therefore willfully infringing sound recording copyrights of BMG from November 1999 to May 2001.
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