Taylor Swift faces a lawsuit, Michael Jackson's estate battles over a biopic, the Supreme Court hears music, and more in this recap of music law news.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 04: The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. The justices are expected to release opinions today in a series of cases before the court. Over the course of less than a week, America’s major music companies lost one Supreme Court case and teed up another.
the labels filed against telecom giant Cox Communications, ruling that the internet service provider cannot be held responsible for music piracy by its users. In the decision against Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music, the justices unanimously overturned an earlier ruling that held Cox liable for thousands of songs illegally shared by its users — a decision that led a staggering $1 billion infringement verdict in 2019.in an effort to get the Supreme Court to overturn the recent landmark appeals court ruling in Vetter v. Resnik, which said that musicians can enforce U.S. copyright termination rules across the globe. The first-of-its-kind decision, won by songwriter Cyril Vetter, adopted a novel legal theory that artists can use termination rights to regain not only their American copyrights, but also their overseas rights to the same songs, overturning decades of legal precedent and industry practice. Faced with that ruling but with no way to appeal it, the labels got creative: They bought out the small publisher who lost the case to Vetter, with the stated goal of taking the case to the Supreme Court. In many ways, the Cox case was already old news. It was filed nearly eight years ago, and with the entirety of recorded music available instantly for $12.99/mo, illegal downloading just isn’t the existential threat it once was. The Vetter case, on the other hand, raises huge new questions for an era of booming catalog valuations, especially as songwriters and artists become more and more aware of their ownership rights. , offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, — Drew Findling’s client list is something to behold: Cardi B, Offset, Gucci Mane, Lil Nas X, Lil Durk, GloRilla and Rod Wave, among others. Soto talk about the complexity of doing criminal defense work in the music business, the problem with all those RICO cases, and why he hates when prosecutors cite rap lyrics: “I think it is unfair and absolutely racist.”in their copyright case against Claude maker Anthropic on whether AI training counts as “fair use” — the critical question in that case and the potentially trillion-dollar question looming over the entire AI industry.called Tilray, claiming it owes nearly $11.3 million in unpaid licensing fees for the late Jamaican music icon’s official marijuana brand, Marley Natural.’s “Not Like Us,” arguing the superstar is trying to “critically undermine” the art of hip-hop because he’s upset he lost a rap beef., featuring testimony from the new CEO of Oak View Group about the company’s controversial client-steering arrangement with Ticketmaster and the start of Live Nation’s defense case.totaling nearly $20,000 tied to her court victory over Emani Ellis, a security guard who accused her of assault but quickly lost at trial last year.that claimed her hit 2024 single “Enough ” copied an earlier track called “Greasy Frybread.” When will people learn to stop suing Bardi?to free the rapper on bail while he awaits trial in a long-running double murder case. The case, over whether he killed two of his close friends, has already seen the star sit in jail forthat claims the actor is trying to silence her by enforcing a non-disclosure agreement from a previous settlement that she says is illegal.— Rob Toma and Mike Vitacco, the longtime friends behind New York dance events company Teksupport, are no longer getting along — and nowPMC Logo
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