EMI Loses Case Against Digital Music Pioneer Michael Robertson |
Case Against MP3tunes Defining Consumers' Rights with Personal Music To
Proceed In New York
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- New York District Judge William H.
Pauley III has ordered the copyright infringement lawsuit against Michael
Robertson dismissed and the case against MP3tunes and its personal music
lockers to proceed in his New York court. In November 2007, fourteen record
labels and publishers affiliated with major record label EMI filed a
lawsuit against MP3tunes and Michael Robertson alleging copyright
infringement. The complaint focused on MP3tunes' internet locker service
where individual music libraries can be stored and accessed.
"Suing CEOs personally is a nasty tactic media companies are engaging
in to intimidate individuals, forcing them to either enter into a
settlement or face the possibility of losing their homes, cars, and all
their personal belongings," said MP3tunes CEO, Michael Robertson. "I chose
to fight instead of run, because I believe consumers should be able to
listen to their music everywhere. We look forward to explaining to the
court what we do, and how we do it in a responsible and legal manner."
MP3tunes has 150,000 customers with personal music accounts known as
lockers. All music stored in these password protected accounts is available
on their PCs, game consoles, DVRs, internet radios and mobile phones for
listening. Free and premium accounts are available to a worldwide audience
at http://mp3tunes.com. The proceeding copyright infringement case against
MP3tunes will determine if it is permissible for consumers to store their
music in online commercial services for everywhere access, directly
analogous to the way they currently store documents, photos and other
personal data in cloud services, such as those offered by Google, Apple and
others.
"Many large companies, such as AOL (Xdrive), Microsoft (Skydrive) and
BT (The Vault) offer online music storage, but EMI intentionally targeted
my small company thinking they would have a tactical legal advantage," said
MP3tunes CEO, Michael Robertson. "Much is at stake because if we lose this
case it will shut down every online storage company and cripple consumers'
rights."
For Additional Information:
Legal ruling:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6326758/Ruling-in-EMI-v-MP3tunes-and-Michael-Robe
rtson
Further commentary from CEO Michael Robertson: http://www.michaelrobertson.com
SOURCE MP3tunes
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CONTACT:
Dianne Gleason of Enfuego Strategic
Communications, +1-303-381-2571, dianne@enfuegosc.com, for
MP3tunes
