AfterDawn: News

Warner Music Group sues Imeem Inc.

One of the world's four major record companies, Warner Music Group Corp. has filed a lawsuit against Imeem Inc., a music-based social networking site. The record company accuses Imeem of infringing the copyright of its artists including Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day. Warner accuses the site of building up its 16 million members through "illegal use of 'free music.'" The lawsuit was filed at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

Imeem does warn users that attempt to upload MP3 tracks about copyright issues and does not condone or allow uploading of work that the user does not own. However, Warner does not believe that Imeem is the innocent party in this case. "Imeem is no innocent infringer. It invites Imeem's millions of users to flock to its website to copy, adapt, distribute and perform unlicensed sound recordings and music videos," the Warner lawsuit reads.



Warner is claiming damages of up to $150,000 for each infringement and as evidence, the complaint includes an exhibit that shows thousands of "play counts" for its artists' works on the popular site. Imeem is considered the fourth most popular site of its kind in the U.S., behind YouTube, Google Video and MySpace.

Source:
Reuters

Written by: James Delahunty @ 16 May 2007 19:24

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• 3 comments

• sssharp

  Warner needs to understand the people who download songs are the ones who dont plan on buying. If downloaded and liked there is a chance they have acquired a consumer with the help of these sites.

  17.5.2007 13:50 #1

• borhan9

  Music regardless of who shares it is always going to be like this. I wish people realized that Music has to improve in all areas before consumers come back and purchase it correctly.

  17.5.2007 19:45 #2

• Unfocused

  They should go to the source of the problem. They should sue themselves. If the studios didn't release any music, then nobody could illegally download / upload.

  21.5.2007 15:05 #3