The American Hockey League's on the hot seat, after being subject to a Lawsuit
Photo credit: NHL Hockey
The American Hockey League could be in major trouble, as a lawsuit has been filed since the publisher APM Music filed suit.
APM is a music publisher based out of Hollywood, California, and is a product of the partnership between Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing.
The music business is known for its litigious nature, as a result of personalities lately failing to gain the proper license before using the music. For example, many musicians have been denying politicians allowance to use their music, since they don't go the legal route.
Now, the AHL is finding itself in a similar situation, as APM Music has alleged that the league has failed to do the proper licensing for the music before they used it.
APM has released in court documents how they've repeatedly asked the league to stop using unlicensed songs, as shown by Rick Westhead a muckraker in the hockey world, who currently works for The Sports Network.
The fact that the league would go ahead with copyright infringement instead of filing the proper paperwork and paying the music publishers what is necessary is puzzling.
Is the AHL that hard-up for cash that they need to steal clips of music to use nightly, without thinking they'd have to pay up later down the road?
In the long run, they may have to settle for a larger amount than paying APM outright for the music.
AHL teams, APM contends, use their Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media channels to engage in «rampant infringement» of APM's recordings. APM cites more than 230 specific videos in which the AHL or a team used an allegedly infringed song in a video. Major social media platforms require users to have copyright permission, and they enable copyright holders to submit takedown requests. As Sportico has detailed, UFC, the NFL and NBA have pushed for legal changes that would empower content creators to more quickly stop online piracy of their live sporting events.
Source: Sportico
Hockey Teams Face the Music Over Copyright Infringement
Hockey Teams Face the Music Over Copyright Infringement
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