Several NBA teams have been sued for using certain rap songs in social media posts without permission.
14 NBA teams face copyright infringement lawsuits
On July 18, Kobalt Music Publishing, Artist Publishing Group and others filed multiple lawsuits with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accusing 14 NBA teams including the New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, and Cleveland Cavaliers of copyright infringement. team. Other teams facing lawsuits include the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs.
According to the lawsuit obtained by XXL on Monday (July 22), the plaintiff accused the NBA team of “exploiting copyright by synchronizing works with videos with the intention of promoting the defendants’ commercial activities, and then exploiting these videos” without the plaintiff’s permission. Authorize or agree to synchronize the work with the video.
The songs listed in the lawsuit span genres but include hip-hop songs such as Busta Rhymes’ “Put Your HandsWhere My Eyes Can See,” Shaq’s “I Know I Got (Skills),” A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s “Look Back at It,” DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win,” and more.
The lawsuit seeks $150,000 in damages for each violation. As of press time, many of the videos in question have been removed from the team’s account.
XXL has reached out to the NBA for comment.
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Combating copyright infringement
Rappers are mostly on the wrong side of copyright infringement lawsuits. Recently, there have been a number of examples of Rhymers and the companies that own their content fighting back against the illegal use of their music. Last April, Universal Music Group took a hard line against the use of AI to manipulate the music of its artists. its music.
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