Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Pandora Prevails In License Dispute

Pandora Media Inc has won a Manhattan federal court decision rejecting efforts by some music publishers to narrow a license that enables the largest U.S. Internet radio service to play their music, according to Reuters.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote said an existing antitrust consent decree that requires the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers to license its works to Pandora from 2011 to 2015 "unambiguously" covers all its works, even if publishers seek to "withdraw" authority to license to "new media" services.

"We're obviously gratified by the result," said Kenneth Steinthal, a partner at King & Spalding in San Francisco who represents Pandora.

The decision could strengthen Pandora's case as it pursues related litigation on what constitutes "reasonable" licensing fees. Cote has scheduled a December 4 trial on that matter.

The case arose after publishers including EMI Music Publishing Ltd, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and Universal Music Publishing Group withdrew or tried to withdraw new media licensing rights from ASCAP, allowing them to negotiate directly with Internet radio services.

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