Patrick Moxey’s publishing company files amended copyright complaint against Sony Music
Patrick Moxey’s unbiased music publishing firm has filed an amended copyright lawsuit in opposition to Sony Music Entertainment and plenty of its subsidiaries, together with Extremely Data and AWAL.
The unique lawsuit, filed in New York in November on behalf of Extremely Worldwide Music Publishing LLC (UIMP) and Ultra Music Publishing Europe AG, centered on allegations of copyright infringement over Sony and its associates’ alleged use of Moxey’s firm’s compositions with out a license.
Final month, Sony Music Entertainment asked a court in New York to dismiss the lawsuit, calling the copyright motion “an ill-conceived effort” to “retaliate in opposition to” Sony Music for taking authorized motion over “Moxey’s unauthorized use of the ULTRA trademark after SME purchased Moxey’s share of Extremely Data from him in 2021.”
SME already owned 50% of the Ultra Records label, which it acquired from Moxey in 2012. After that, he continued to run the label as its President and co-owner. Moxey left Extremely Data in January 2022 however continued to completely personal Extremely Worldwide Music Publishing.
Moxey’s publishing firm (UIMP) was sued by Sony-owned Extremely Data in December 2022 over Moxey’s continued use of the ‘Extremely’ title.
In December 2024, a jury discovered that Moxey’s music publishing firm had breached the trademark. A few weeks in the past, in February, a US federal courtroom gave Moxey’s unbiased publishing firm (UIMP) 180 days (roughly six months) to change its name to something other than “Ultra.”
In an order issued on February 25, Choose Arun Subramanian gave the corporate the proper to confer with itself as “previously referred to as Extremely Worldwide Music Publishing” on social media for 18 months following the order. The choose’s order will be learn in full here.
In an modification to Ultra Music Publishing’s copyright criticism in opposition to Sony Music, Moxey’s publishing firm hits out on the argument made in Sony’s motion to dismiss final month that the lawsuit was filed in opposition to SME in retaliation for Sony Music’s authorized motion over the Extremely trademark.
Within the amended criticism, filed on Monday (March 10) obtained by MBW, Moxey’s publishing firm claims that Sony Music “has misrepresented this lawsuit as a hasty ‘revenge’ tactic that purportedly was filed by Plaintiffs in response to a trademark dispute between the events”.
“One of many elementary roles of a music writer is to guard and defend the work and the rights of the songwriters we characterize. This lawsuit demonstrates our ongoing dedication to those rules.”
Patrick Moxey
The preliminary assertion of the 21-page doc, which you’ll be able to read in full here, continues: “It is a copyright lawsuit that doesn’t contain emblems or any form of ‘revenge’.”
It provides: “It was filed to guard Plaintiffs’ songwriters and copyrights. This lawsuit is the inevitable results of Sony Music’s unabated, huge, ongoing, and willful infringements of Plaintiffs’ copyrights for greater than two years.”
Additionally it is claimed inside the preliminary assertion of the amended submitting that the allegations within the criticism “are substantiated by a voluminous evidentiary document of Sony Music’s illegal acts which Plaintiffs have fastidiously and meticulously collected”.
Filed together with the amended criticism is a doc titled Exhibit A, itemizing 101 compositions the publishing firm alleges, have been infringed by Sony Music.
Within the original complaint, Moxey’s publishing firm accused Sony Music of “underpayment and non-payment of royalties” to the writer and its songwriters. The publishing firm mentioned it had “been engaged in an audit of Sony Music Leisure and its associates” for plenty of years.
The criticism additionally claimed that Sony “admitted the audit uncovered credit score errors and miscalculations of funds”, however that Sony “wrongfully refused to pay the Extremely Plaintiffs and their songwriters the monies that the Audit revealed they’re owed”.
Sony Music argued in its motion to dismiss final month that the copyright lawsuit was filed “on the eve of trial within the trademark lawsuit” by Moxey’s firm “in an try to achieve settlement leverage over” Sony within the trademark dispute.
The movement added that Moxey’s firm tried “to justify that nefarious timing by claiming this lawsuit stems from an audit of the music publishing royalties that SME paid to Plaintiffs”.
Added SME: “But, that audit — which concerned funds made by SME to Plaintiffs via 2016 — was settled in precept years in the past for a small fraction of the quantity claimed, and Plaintiffs by no means pursued these audit claims any additional.”
The movement continued: “In November 2024, mere days earlier than the trial within the trademark litigation started, UIMP and its Swiss affiliate commenced this copyright infringement motion, utilizing the long-since resolved audit as a pretext.”
In its new amended criticism, Extremely Worldwide Music Publishing claims that it “knowledgeable” Sony Music on January 19, 2023, “that they won’t grant licenses to Sony Music on a going-forward foundation till the audit points are resolved” and that “thereafter, the Extremely Plaintiffs repeatedly requested Sony Music, in a number of letters, over the course of two years, to cease infringing their copyrights”.
UIMP claims that “Sony Music rebuffed these clear and unequivocal requests” and that the music firm “continued — and to this date continues — to use unlicensed recordings that infringe Plaintiffs’ copyrights”.
The criticism claims: “For a lot of months, the Extremely Plaintiffs have repeatedly requested that Sony Music present them with any licenses that Sony Music claims to have for the infringing works at problem on this case.
“If any licenses existed, it might be straightforward for Sony to supply them. Nonetheless, Sony Music has failed to supply any license in any way for any of the one-hundred-plus works at problem on this lawsuit.”
MBW has contacted Sony Music for remark and can replace this story if and once we obtain an announcement on the document.
Patrick Moxey issued the next assertion in response to a request for remark: “One of many elementary roles of a music writer is to guard and defend the work and the rights of the songwriters we characterize. This lawsuit demonstrates our ongoing dedication to those rules.”Music Enterprise Worldwide
