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During sporting events, music from many artists and producers are used to set the mood of the event as well as provide entertainment for the fans. However, many teams in the NBA are being hit with large copyright infringement lawsuits because of using the intellectual property without consent.
A total of 14 NBA teams have received lawsuits; the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings, Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers. Each lawsuit is seeking around $150,000 in damages, however the count of offences for each team varies- depends on the number of posts, total damages could easily reach millions of dollars.
One team that was hit with a lawsuit was the New York Knicks who allegedly used a song by popular rappers Jay-Z and Cardi-B, without permission to do so. One interesting aspect of this case, however, is that all the songs used without permission all have the same licensing agent, Kobalt Music. The licensing agent filed the lawsuits in New York on the 18th of July.
Each lawsuit stated that the NBA is expected to know better when it comes to copyright infringement as they are so determined to protect their own copyrighted content.
It isn’t yet known whether there will be an ongoing dispute or whether these matters will be resolved behind closed doors. Watch this space!
By Adam Little of Farnborough Sixth Form College
