The
music
labels
suing
Twitter
—
now
X
—
for
copyright
infringement
can
move
forward
with
parts
of
their
lawsuit.
In
a
filing
on
Tuesday,
US
District
Judge
Aleta
A.
Trauger
partially
denied
X’s
motion
to
dismiss
the
lawsuit,
saying
it’s
still
not
clear
“to
what
extent
X
Corp.
may
be
liable
for
the
infringing
acts
of
users
on
its
platform.”
Last
year,
the
National
Music
Publishers’
Association
(NMPA)
sued
X
for
$250
million
on
behalf
of
Universal
Music
Group,
Concord
Music
Group,
Sony
Music
Publishing,
Warner
Chappell
Music,
and
other
major
publishers.
The
lawsuit
alleges
that
X
“breeds
massive
copyright
infringement
that
harms
music
creators”
by
failing
to
take
action
against
posts
containing
copyrighted
music.
Copyright
issues
on
X
have
been
a
problem
even
before
Elon
Musk’s
takeover,
as
the
lawsuit
cites
that
the
NMPA
began
sending
infringement
notices
to
Twitter
“on
a
weekly
basis”
in
December
2021.
The
court
is
letting
some
of
the
NMPA’s
claims
stand,
including
allegations
that
X
“allowed
users
to
pay
for
more
forgiving
treatment
under
its
anti-infringement
policies”
through
its
premium
subscription,
which
allows
users
to
upload
longer
videos.
It
also
denied
X’s
motion
to
dismiss
the
NMPA’s
claims
that
X
failed
to
respond
to
claims
in
a
timely
manner
and
didn’t
take
appropriate
action
against
“repeat
infringers.”
However,
the
judge
agreed
to
dismiss
the
NMPA’s
allegations
that
X
engaged
in
direct
copyright
infringement
and
that
the
platform
is
“vicariously
liable”
for
direct
infringements
by
users.
“As
the
Supreme
Court
has
acknowledged,
‘the
lines
between
direct
infringement,
contributory
infringement,
and
vicarious
liability
are
not
clearly
drawn,’”
Trauger
writes.
“The
ultimate
questions
presented
by
this
case
are
whether
and
to
what
extent
X
Corp.
may
be
liable
for
the
infringing
acts
of
users
on
its
platform.”
As
the
lawsuit
moves
forward,
the
judge
notes
that
X’s
monitoring
and
control
over
users
“are
relevant
to
that
inquiry,”
and
so
are
the
platform’s
financial
incentives
to
“tolerate
infringement.”
Original author: Emma Roth
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