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24 January 2020CopyrightRory O'Neill

Google and Amazon named in bootleg streaming suit

Google and Amazon have again been accused of selling bootleg copies of “virtually every well-known recording artist from the 1930s through the 1960s”, in a series of copyright infringement lawsuits filed in the US this week.

The estate of the late “The Wizard of Oz” songwriter Harold Arlen was named as a plaintiff in two of the suits, following complaints against the same tech companies last year.

According to the complaints, jointly filed by Arlen’s estate and SA Music, owned by Arlen’s son Sam, bootleg copies of Arlen’s songs including “Over The Rainbow” are available on the defendants’ online streaming services Google Play and Amazon Prime Music.

The plaintiffs also include Four Jays Music, which says it owns the copyright registrations for more than 300 songs written by US composer Harry Warren, whose hits include “I Only Have Eyes For You” and “That’s Amore”.

The “bootleg” recordings are published by Limitless Recordings, also named as a defendant.

According to the lawsuits, the widespread availability of the bootlegs on the streaming service highlights the prevalence of online piracy.

“It is hard to imagine that a person walking into Tower Records with arms full of CDs and vinyl records and claiming to be the record label for Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, could succeed in having that store sell their pirated copies directly next to the same albums released by legendary record labels, Capitol, RCA and Columbia, and at a lower price,” the Arlen complaint said, echoing the complaint filed last May.

“Yet, this exact practice occurs every day in the digital music business, where there is unlimited digital shelf space, and a complete willingness by the digital music stores to seek popular and iconic recordings from any source, legitimate or not,” it added.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages and an award of profits resulting from sales of the alleged bootlegs.

The Google complaints were filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, while Amazon was sued in the Western District of Washington.

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