NASHVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess) — The National Music Publishers’ Association launched a lawsuit against Twitter on Wednesday, claiming that the social media service allows the widespread use of copyrighted music on its platform without permission.
According to Bloomberg Law, the suit, filed in a Federal Court in Tennessee, is led by The National Music Publishers’ Association, who alleged that Twitter willfully infringed on approximately 1,700 songs. Along with the NMPA, the suit lists 17 music publishers as plaintiffs, including Sony Music and Universal Music Publishing Group.
Through the suit, the companies are seeking $150,000 for each infringed work, along with other damages, Bloomberg Law reported.
In the suit, the plaintiffs claim that “Twitter fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating Publishers’ and others’ exclusive rights under copyright law.”
“While numerous Twitter competitors respect the need for proper licenses and agreements for the use of musical compositions on their platforms, Twitter does not, and instead breeds massive copyright infringement that harms music creators,” the complaint continued.
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
