Word Collections Seeks Sanctions From Pandora in Copyright Suit

As they proceed to spearhead copyright infringement lawsuits towards Pandora, Phrase Collections and Spoken Giants are actually looking for sanctions towards the SiriusXM-owned platform.

Jeff Value’s Phrase Collections only recently submitted a Rule 11 sanctions movement towards the service in addition to its regulation agency, Mayer Brown, whereas Spoken Giants filed a separate Rule 11 movement final week. For background, each the submitting organizations, as their names recommend, symbolize the pursuits of spoken-word leisure professionals together with stand-up comedians.

Equally, each entities are suing Pandora for allegedly failing to safe licenses for an array of compositions/literary works (not recordings themselves) behind releases from Invoice Engvall, Ron White, Andrew Cube Clay, and several other others. Might of 2022 noticed Pandora levy an antitrust counteraction towards Phrase Collections, and the presiding choose in October of the identical yr dismissed this countersuit with go away to amend.

Phrase Collections’ initially talked about Rule 11 sanctions movement facilities on Pandora’s “factually baseless” refiled counterclaims, which the counter-defendant maintains had been “made with out having carried out an affordable and competent inquiry” and “had been filed in unhealthy religion for an improper function.”

“Pandora is pursuing baseless counterclaims towards Phrase Collections and its purchasers to pressure them to expend important time and assets defending these claims within the hope that Phrase Collections shall be compelled to desert its licensing enterprise and the Plaintiff Comedians will drop the lawsuits towards Pandora,” the Rule 11 movement spells out. “That is exactly the kind of unhealthy religion submitting that warrants sanctions.”

Pandora’s amended countercomplaint, although longer than the primary submitting, is alleged to include three already-dismissed claims and, instead of a “debunked tying declare,” allegations of an unreasonable restraint on commerce.

Pushing again towards the concept the Jeff Value-led group wields substantial market energy and is making an attempt to extract “supracompetitive” royalties by representing key purchasers and commercially integral works, the counter-defendant factors to an alleged lack of recent information and the presence of Spoken Giants.

“And, most critically for the needs of this movement, Pandora merely can’t allege in good religion that Phrase Collections has monopoly energy within the related market whereas concurrently alleging that Spoken Giants additionally has monopoly energy in that market,” the authorized doc reads.

On the conspiracy entrance, the sanctions-minded counter-defendant maintains that “Pandora’s failure to conduct an affordable investigation into whether or not any conspiracy really existed by not interviewing related individuals or reviewing related paperwork is sanctionable conduct.”

“Nevertheless, it’s clear that Pandora intentionally selected to not heed the Courtroom’s directive and filed the FACC [first amended counterclaim] with out conducting any, or any affordable, investigation or search to find out if it may plead the information vital to handle the failings in its conspiracy allegations,” Phrase Collections’ movement states. “No competent legal professional would imagine Pandora’s conspiracy claims are well-grounded the truth is, and sanctions are warranted.”

Lastly, Pandora falsely claimed that it had in March of 2021 been prompted to signal a “‘necessary all-or-nothing blanket license,’” in accordance with Word Collections, which says that the allegation is “based mostly upon a single alleged communication” with Value.

Furthermore, this allegation (and the overarching counteraction) is likewise “based mostly on cherry picked parts” of the March communication, per Phrase Collections, and “that communication as an entire makes plain that there was no anticompetitive conduct in any respect.”

“Pandora is utilizing its pleading to attempt to harm Mr. Value’s popularity within the hopes it would pressure Phrase Collections to concede, or no less than hurt its enterprise,” the doc signifies in direction of its finish, earlier than alleging that regulation agency Mayer Brown itself included “preposterously hyperbolic” allegations about Value “solely in an try and hurt Phrase Collections beneath cowl of litigation privilege.”