Lyrics site LiveUniverse slammed with $6.6 million copyright judgment

News · 10-11-12, 02:30 PM

Several years after music publishers began pursuing websites that published lyrics on the Web without permission, they may have their biggest payoff yet. A recent court judgment [PDF] against LiveUniverse makes it crystal clear: hosting an unauthorized lyrics site can get you in serious legal trouble.

LiveUniverse.com and its owner Brad Greenspan were slapped with a $6.6 million default judgment by a Los Angeles federal judge this week for running a lyrics site that didn't pay for a license from music publishers. That's $12,500 per song for the 528 songs whose lyrics he was accused of infringing.

Those songs include 'China Girl' by David Bowie; 'Moondance' by Van Morrison; '(Don't Go Chasing) Waterfalls' performed by TLC; 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' by Green Day; 'Old Time Rock 'n Roll' performed by Bob Seger; and 'Georgia on My Mind' performed by Ray Charles.

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10-11-12, 02:30 PM	#1
News Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 34,496	Lyrics site LiveUniverse slammed with $6.6 million copyright judgment Several years after music publishers began pursuing websites that published lyrics on the Web without permission, they may have their biggest payoff yet. A recent court judgment [PDF] against LiveUniverse makes it crystal clear: hosting an unauthorized lyrics site can get you in serious legal trouble. LiveUniverse.com and its owner Brad Greenspan were slapped with a $6.6 million default judgment by a Los Angeles federal judge this week for running a lyrics site that didn't pay for a license from music publishers. That's $12,500 per song for the 528 songs whose lyrics he was accused of infringing. Those songs include 'China Girl' by David Bowie; 'Moondance' by Van Morrison; '(Don't Go Chasing) Waterfalls' performed by TLC; 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' by Green Day; 'Old Time Rock 'n Roll' performed by Bob Seger; and 'Georgia on My Mind' performed by Ray Charles. Read 13 remaining paragraphs \| Comments More...