Lawsuit Implicates Apple in Massive Music Piracy Operation

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Apple is the target of a new lawsuit alleging the company is part of a “massive music piracy operation” orchestrated by Adasam, a UK-based music distributor.

The lawsuit was filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by a group of plaintiffs that include SA Music, The Harold Arlen Trust, the Ray Henderson Music Co., and the Four Jays Music Company.

According to the lawsuit, Adasam allegedly is copying and selling more than 80 pirated recordings from “virtually every well-known recording artist from the 1920s through the 1960s.”

The suit claims Adasam does not have the licenses to duplicate some of the music that it’s selling. This pirated music is being sold alongside legitimate copies the company is licensed to sell.

The plaintiffs in the suit claim Apple knowingly allowed Adasam to sell pirated music. “All of this should have made it obvious that Adasam is operating a huge music piracy operation,” claims the plaintiffs in the suit.

“Apple had actual knowledge of, or willfully chose to ignore, the evidence of piracy, and participated in the infringement on a massive scale.”

This complaint isn’t the first nor the last music piracy lawsuit Apple will face. Last year, the company was sued by the estate of Harold Arlen, which accused Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others of selling unauthorized copies of the late songwriter’s music.

Four Jay Music, a plaintiff in the current case, sued Apple last year, claiming the Cupertino company profited by selling pirated music from composer Harry Warren. 

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