Washington, DC, USA: The legal action claims that publishers controlling over 90 percent of US copyrighted music coordinated through a trade body to act against X.
Washington: Elon Musk’s company X Corp has filed a lawsuit against 18 major music publishers along with a prominent US music industry association, accusing them of colluding to suppress competition and compel the platform to buy music licenses at excessive prices.
The case was submitted on Friday in a federal court in Texas. It claims that the National Music Publishers' Association, along with publishers such as Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Chappell, violated US antitrust laws by collectively refusing to enter into separate licensing agreements with X.
According to the filing, X has been prevented from securing a US music composition license from any single publisher under fair and competitive conditions.
None of the named publishers or the trade association offered immediate responses to media inquiries. X also did not provide an instant comment.
The lawsuit further asserts that companies controlling more than 90 percent of copyrighted music in the United States worked together through the association to coordinate actions against X.
X claims the publishers have issued a large volume of weekly takedown notices, targeting thousands of posts that include copyrighted music. These notices allegedly cover content shared by well known accounts and are intended to pressure X into accepting uniform, industrywide licensing terms.
Court documents state that X has taken down thousands of posts and suspended over 50,000 user accounts as a result, negatively impacting user engagement and advertising income. The company is asking the court to reinstate fair competition in music licensing and to award damages for lost advertising revenue.
In 2024, X succeeded in getting most portions of a lawsuit dismissed. That earlier case, filed in 2023 by 17 music publishers including Sony and Universal, accused X of copyright infringement involving nearly 1,700 songs posted online without authorization. The publishers had sought damages exceeding $250 million.
X noted in its latest filing that some of the publishers involved in the earlier lawsuit have since shown openness to negotiating individual settlement terms.
