Streaming radio service TuneIn has said that the decision made in the Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment copyright infringement lawsuit in London last month is ‘fundamentally bad for freedom of expression on the Internet’.
The company added that it hopes to overturn the judgement after the UK High Court decided today (December 5) to allow both parties to appeal the decision.
The UK lawsuit was filed by Warner and Sony in 2017.
A legal document seen at the time by one MBW source suggested that the majors submitted evidence which they claimed showed a sample of 800 unlicensed TuneIn music streams in the UK.
In what was a complex legal judgement on November 1, the court decided that the digital music platform breached the music companies’ copyright on one point but found that it didn’t breach their copyright on another.
The court found in favor of TuneIn that music radio stations licensed in the UK can be made available through the TuneIn service to TuneIn’s UK users.
It found in favor of Sony and Warner’s claim however that TuneIn providing radio station links to users in the UK, that are either unlicensed or licensed overseas, constitutes copyright infringement.
Said the TuneIn spokesperson: “Although Sony and Warner sought to portray last month’s decision as a decisive win for them, the fact that both parties have sought to appeal the decision tells a different story.
“As things stand, we can continue to operate the most important part of our UK directory service, which is providing our UK users with links to UK stations, but cannot provide access to links to foreign music stations.”
“Although Sony and Warner sought to portray last month’s decision as a decisive win for them, the fact that both parties have sought to appeal the decision tells a different story.”
TuneIn spokesperson
Launched in 2002, San Francisco-based TuneIn is a free digital radio service that offers its listeners music, sport, news, podcast and audiobook content.
One of the elements called into question during the recent proceedings was the TuneIn Pro app’s record feature, which Judge Colin Birss reportedly said enables the app to function as “download on demand service”.
Bloomberg reported that the pro app had 150,000 users in the UK in January 2019, but that the record feature was removed in the country in early 2017.
In statement issued today (December 5), a TuneIn spokesperson said: “In the dispute between Sony Music/Warner Music and TuneIn, the UK High Court has decided today to allow both parties to appeal the decision it handed down on November 1, 2019, previous press statement here.
“Although Sony and Warner sought to portray last month’s decision as a decisive win for them, the fact that both parties have sought to appeal the decision tells a different story.
“As things stand, we can continue to operate the most important part of our UK directory service, which is providing our UK users with links to UK stations, but cannot provide access to links to foreign music stations.
Added the spokesperson: “We hope to overturn this latter point on appeal as we believe that it is fundamentally bad for freedom of expression on the Internet and cultural diversity.
“Many have also expressed concern about the broader implications of this decision for search engines and other Internet operators, as well as the risk that it will lead to a territorially segmented Internet.
“The Court of Appeal will now have to grapple with this complex case, which looks at whether we should be allowed to provide our UK users with access to hyperlinks to music radio stations that are freely available on the Internet.”Music Business Worldwide
