Twitter sued for $250 mn over 'wilful' music copyright infringement

San Francisco, June 15 The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) in the US has sued Twitter for $250 million over a massive copyright infringement.

The lawsuit, filed in the federal court in the state of Tennessee on behalf of 17 music publishers, is seeking damages and injunctive relief for Twitter's "wilful copyright infringement".

"Twitter fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating publishers' and others' exclusive rights under copyright law," the lawsuit read.

"While numerous Twitter competitors recognise 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," it added.

The lawsuit has a list of around 1,700 songs that has been included in multiple copyright notices to Twitter, asking the court to fine the micro-blogging platform up to $150,000 for each violation.

According to the lawsuit, the "pervasive infringing activity at issue in this case is no accident".

While the Twitter platform began as a destination for short text-based messages, it widened its business model to compete more aggressively with other social media sites for users, advertisers, and subscribers.

"By design, the Twitter platform became a hot destination for multimedia content, with music-infused videos being of particular and paramount importance," the lawsuit added.

The NMPA claimed that Twitter has failed to remove infringing content once notified and has "continued to assist known repeat infringers with their infringement" without risk of them losing their accounts.

Both the micro-blogging platform or Musk were yet to react to the lawsuit.

"Twitter profits handsomely from its infringement of Publishers' repertoires of musical compositions. The audio and audio-visual recordings embodying those compositions attract and retain users (both account holders and visitors) and drive engagement, thereby furthering Twitter's lucrative advertising business and other revenue streams," read the lawsuit.

na/ksk/