Legal

EMI lawyers still confident over MP3tunes case

By | Published on Tuesday 28 June 2011

MP3tunes.com

Lawyers for EMI are confident the major record company will win their long running lawsuit against Michael Robertson with regards his digital locker service MP3tunes.com, according to Grokster founder Wayne Rosso, writing on The Music Void.

As much previously reported, MP3tunes.com was one of the first music-based digital lockers to reach market, and legal action from EMI quickly followed. Robertson, who, as founder of the original MP3.com is used to fighting record companies, insists his service does not require a licence from the record companies and music publishers, whereas EMI says that without such a licence MP3tunes.com is committing copyright infringement by storing copies of its customer’s music on their servers.

Of course, that’s an increasingly familiar debate, since Amazon and Google likewise launched music-focused digital lockers without any licenses from the music companies earlier this year. Rosso’s sources say a resolution on EMI v MP3tunes could come within the next few months, which could have a bearing on the roll out of the Amazon and Google lockers.

Rosso points out that if EMI loses this legal action it will give the two web giants’ services a definite boost, though if EMI wins it doesn’t necessarily mean legal papers will immediately be filed against Amazon and Google, rather the record companies will have a stronger case for forcing the web firms to agree to licensing deals and sizable upfront advances.

That said, some legal experts reckon there is enough difference between the MP3tunes.com service and the very simplistic music lockers currently offered by Amazon and Google for the big web players to dismiss any ruling against MP3tunes.com as not being relevant to them.

Either way, all parties will continue to watch EMI v MP3tunes.com very carefully. If Rosso’s sources are right and we get a late summer resolution on it, the timing will be very apt, given Amazon, Google and Apple – the latter operating a licensed (by the majors in the US at least) locker – will all presumably be planning big pushes of their respective music storage services in the autumn and the run up to Christmas.



READ MORE ABOUT: |