Universal Music Group , Sony Music Entertainment and other record labels on Friday sued the nonprofit Internet Archive for copyright infringement over its streaming collection of digitized music from vintage records.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/ZGo6X

Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), Sony Music Entertainment (6758.T) and other record labels on Friday sued the nonprofit Internet Archive for copyright infringement over its streaming collection of digitized music from vintage records.

The labels’ lawsuit filed in a federal court in Manhattan said the Archive’s “Great 78 Project” functions as an “illegal record store” for songs by musicians including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Billie Holiday.

They named 2,749 sound-recording copyrights that the Archive allegedly infringed. The labels said their damages in the case could be as high as $412 million.

Representatives for the Internet Archive did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

The San Francisco-based Internet Archive digitally archives websites, books, audio recordings and other materials. It compares itself to a library and says its mission is to “provide universal access to all knowledge.”

The Internet Archive is already facing another federal lawsuit in Manhattan from leading book publishers who said its digital-book lending program launched in the pandemic violates their copyrights. A judge ruled for the publishers in March, in a decision that the Archive plans to appeal.

The Great 78 Project encourages donations of 78-rpm records – the dominant record format from the early 1900s until the 1950s – for the group to digitize to “ensure the survival of these cultural materials for future generations to study and enjoy.” Its website says the collection includes more than 400,000 recordings.

The labels’ lawsuit said the project includes thousands of their copyright-protected recordings, including Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” and Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”.

The lawsuit said the recordings are all available on authorized streaming services and “face no danger of being lost, forgotten, or destroyed.”

  • Skies5394@lemmy.mlEnglish
    112·
    1 year ago

    That’s the fucked up thing, they legally have to be as greedy as possible.

      • Excel@lemmy.megumin.orgEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Except this article is completely incorrect and doesn’t even acknowledge the actual ruling responsible for this popular belief:

        In 1919 the primacy of shareholder value maximization was affirmed in a ruling by the Michigan State Supreme Court in Dodge vs. Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford wanted to invest Ford Motor Company’s considerable retained earnings in the company rather than distribute it to shareholders. The Dodge brothers, minority shareholders in Ford Motor Company, brought suit against Ford, alleging that his intention to benefit employees and consumers was at the expense of shareholders. In their ruling, the Michigan court agreed with the Dodge brothers:

        • Serdan@lemm.eeEnglish
          12·
          1 year ago

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co.

          Among non-experts, conventional wisdom holds that corporate law requires boards of directors to maximize shareholder wealth. This common but mistaken belief is almost invariably supported by reference to the Michigan Supreme Court’s 1919 opinion in Dodge v. Ford Motor Co.

          Lol

    • infyrin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      The movie industry makes back to back billions a year. Still whines about losing “millions” as the next MCU film pulls back millions every damn summer.

      The RIAA nets some double digit billions through streaming alone and this year isn’t even over yet with that reporting. Still whines about losing “millions”.

      The american book publishing industry has raked in 28.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Still whining!

      Oh do we even have to guess how much the video game industry is raking in? $347 Billion.

      Where is the fucking lost profits? How is piracy harming any of these assholes? They’re stretching their boy who cried wolf stories for far too long.