Music streaming giant Pandora famously paid a $90 million dollar settlement in 2015 to many of the major record labels for streaming music produced before 1972 without the proper licensing under federal copyright law.
Now, Pandora has found itself in hot water again for allegedly violating the copyright rights of artists.
On February 7, 2022, the estates of Robin Williams and George Carlin filed suit in California Federal Court against Pandora for “willfully” streaming the late comedian’s routines without permission from the copyright holders.
In its complaint, Los Angeles firm King & Ballow, representing the comedians’ estates, allege the legendary funny men’s works “continue to be exploited, performed, broadcast, and streamed” across Pandora’s platforms without permission. The complaint also contends that Pandora has failed to render any “substantive response” to warnings about the violations.
Williams’ estate seeks $4.1 million in damages from the platform, while Carlin’s estate seeks $8.4 million.
The lawsuits rely on a perhaps underappreciated but important distinction in federal copyright law – which is that different copyrights exist for a live recording and for the underlying written material that make up the comedians’ routines. The lawsuits contend that Pandora’s licenses of the comedian’s recordings do not include the underlying literary works that make up their written jokes.
The estates now argue that Pandora “gained listeners, subscribers and, market share with full knowledge it did not have licenses” to the comedians’ routines, and that the streaming giant has not paid any of the royalties due the comedians’ heirs.
The complaint alleges that use of the late comics’ acts propelled the valuation of the streaming service higher in its $3.5 billion sale to Sirius XM in 2018. It also contends that in its 2011 to 2017 filings with the SEC, Pandora admitted that it did not have the proper licenses for much of its comedy content, and that it could therefore be subject to significant liability for copyright infringement.
According to the comedians’ attorney, “Pandora did what most goliaths do: it decided it would infringe now to ensure it had this very valuable intellectual property on its platform to remain competitive and deal with the consequences later. Later is now.”
This suit may not be the end of the story. It may well serve as a test case for a complaint against Pandora’s even bigger competitor, Spotify.
Thus far, Pandora has refused to comment on the suit.
If you are an artist and need legal assistance, contact The Myers Law Group to have a copyright attorney guide you through the copyright process. We are available for a no-obligation consultation.