“Smells Like Blood in the Water”

Like many of the music sharing resources that have come before it, Grooveshark has come under fire for copyright infringement. In a recent ruling by a New York District Court Judge, summary judgement was granted in favor of three major record companies, finding Grooveshark liable for copyright infringement related to the illegal upload of songs to the company’s streaming service. Although Grooveshark has licenses for some of its music, the court found that the company uploaded nearly 5,997 songs without permission. In addition to the copyright infringement, the court also found that the company destroyed evidence essential to the case.

As Grooveshark prepares for an appeal, the company has responded publicly to the ruling, stating that the company “will continue to operate our business ethically and honestly,” and that the matters at hand in the litigation were based on an earlier version of Grooveshark that has since been discontinued in favor of its current streaming service. Although the company maintains it has and will continue to utilize honest business practices, evidence from the proceeding showed that CTO, Joshua Greenberg, threatened to put employees on his “sh*t list” if they did not download as many songs as possible and upload them to the service. This fairly dispositive evidence certainly fueled the fire for the judge’s decision.

Even though the company no longer uses the same method of streaming at issue in the lawsuit, its defense has long been that the service was legal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This act provides federal protection for websites that host third party material, so long as they comply with any “takedown notices” that they may receive from the copyright holders. The protections provided by the act are know as “safe harbor” provisions, and allow leeway for those who are not aware of the established copyright. However, the judge was not at all convinced by this defense, stating that the company “engaged in purposeful conduct with a manifest intent to foster copyright infringement.”

Should Grooveshark lose any potential appeals, the company could be subject to a multi-million dollar judgment, which may ultimately put the future of the company in jeopardy. The damages could include royalties to artists and companies for their recordings. In addition to the aforementioned lawsuit, Grooveshark is still facing two other copyright lawsuits, both of which are in the state of New York.

By: Micheal Littlejohn, Associate Editor of Sports & Entertainment

Photo Credit;

onepointfour via photopin cc

Sources:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6281478/grooveshark-copyright-infringement-licensing-streaming?mobile_redirection=false

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/10/03/grooveshark-speaks-prepares-appeal-copyright-lawsuit/

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/business/media/judge-rules-against-grooveshark-in-copyright-infringement-case.html?_r=1&referrer=