New Delhi: Ever since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the company has been embroiled in controversies about something or the other. Now the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), an organization of music companies, has filed a case in the court alleging Twitter Copyright Infringement. Allegations on Twitter that it has violated the copyright of songwriters by giving permission to upload music on its platform without permission. For this, the organization has demanded compensation of about 2000 thousand crore rupees ($ 250 million) from Twitter.
Significantly, some time ago, Twitter Blue users have been given the facility to upload up to 2 hours of content on the platform. After the introduction of this service, Blue users are fiercely uploading content on Twitter. The National Music Publishers Association consists of 17 music companies, including Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, and Sony Music Publishing.
Together, they have filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of Tennessee state seeking $250 million in damages. NMPA has already taken similar legal action against Tiktok, Twitch, Peloton, Roblox, and some other companies. In these cases, either the infringing companies had to settle with the music companies out of court or the court ruled in favor of the music companies.
Each song demanded more than 1 crore rupees
NMPA has shared a list of around 1700 songs that have been uploaded on Twitter without permission. The companies are seeking damages of up to $150,000 (Rs 1.25 crore) for each infringed work. The association said it is seeking total damages of more than $250 million. Twitter has refused to comment on the matter.
Twitter did not agree even after warning
NMPA President and CEO David Iserlite say that the association also informed Twitter about copyright infringement. But the company did not take any action and now content is being uploaded continuously from different accounts which is against the copyright rules. Music publishers said that Twitter did not take its permission and was violating the rules.
