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Universal Music sues PokerNews for $7 million

PokerNews is one of the most recognized poker brands worldwide, and is involved in many poker related activities, including live poker reporting, daily poker articles, exclusive video interviews, podcasts and much more. PokerNews boasts itself as “the world’s leading poker website” and “the largest poker media site in the world”.

In a recent development, iBus Media, the parent company of PokerNews, is at the bitter end of a lawsuit filed by UMG Recordings who accuse iBus Media for wilfully using copyrighted music in their podcasts. UMG Recordings is at the helm of the plaintiff side, with Roc-A-Fella Records, Capitol Records, Songs of Universal and PolyGram accusing iBus for copyright infringement as well.

UMG Recordings filed the lawsuit at the US District Court of Central California on 16^th November, 2018, listing 253 PokerNews podcasts which feature infringing content. They also listed all the songs and their artists. Kanye West’s song ‘Touch The Sky’ and Nas’ ‘I Can’ were used the most, the list shows. The lawsuit reads, “Among the content made available by iBus Media on PokerNews, and through other forums, are hundreds of podcasts that intentionally incorporate significant portions of Plaintiff’s copyrighted music works”. The plaintiffs may soon add more tracks to this list as the case progresses.

 The lawsuit further reads, “iBus Media was notified that it was infringing Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works nearly three years ago. Nevertheless, iBus Media continues to infringe. iBus Medias’s infringement is therefore willful and deliberate”.

The record labels state in the lawsuit that “these podcasts are also made available to audiences in the United States and California for streaming and/or download by iBus Media through audioBoom, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher,” and  therefore seek a substantial payout, adding that they are “entitled to damages and to the Defendants’ profits in the amounts to be proven at trial. Alternatively, the Record Company Plaintiffs are entitled to maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for each copyright infringed”.

Multiplying the above amount with the total number of instances where copyright infringement took place, the figure almost touches $7 million, a hefty sum iBus Media will be required to pay off, if the jury rules in favour of the plaintiffs.

Additionally, the record companies also request a preliminary and permanent injunction preventing PokerNews and any iBus Media properties from infringing its copyrights going forward. Keep reading GutshotMagazine.com for more updates on this case as well as other developments in the poker world.

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