Post by Diamond Girl on May 19, 2005 7:08:50 GMT -5
Singing Machine named in karaoke lawsuit
One of the companies named in a music piracy lawsuit filed by a Malibu's Sybersound Records has denied all the allegations.
Coconut Creek, Fla.'s The Singing Machine Co., a karaoke machine and music developer and distributor, is one of six companies named in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Sybersound also filed suit in Ontario Superior Court in Canada, seeking a total of more than $200 million in damages it said arose from music piracy by karaoke record manufacturers.
Singing Machine (AMEX: SMD) Interim Chief Executive Officer Y.P. Chan said his company has yet to be served with a lawsuit, but, based on a Sybersound media announcement, believes the legal action Sybersound discussed is "completely without merit, and we are prepared to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter and are confident that we will be vindicated."
Singing Machine, which has products under its own name, as well as brands including Motown, MTV and Nickelodeon, joins UAV Corp. of Fort Mill, S.C.; Madacy Entertainment Group of Montreal, Canada; Audio Stream and Top Tunes of Hilliard, Ohio; BCI Eclipse of Newbury Park; and Compass Productions of Minneapolis in the domestic suit.
Sybersound itself produces recordings for home-market karaoke use. Product lines include "Party Tyme Karaoke" and "Billboard Top 10 Karaoke."
However, Sybersound said it gets karaoke synchronization licenses from publishers for all songs it releases on its albums and pays royalties for all units sold. The lawsuits allege Sybersound competitors have failed, unlawfully, to license competing karaoke records, and have underreported sales to publishers as a way of selling product below cost and undercutting Sybersound's pricing.
"This has plagued the karaoke business for a long time," said Jan Stevens, Sybersound president and CEO. "We've always been scrupulous about paying writers for the use of their songs, and have expected that our competitors would do the same. It's time for the rest of the industry to do the right thing, and we hope that our lawsuit will help make this happen."
Robert Meloni, Sybersound's New York lawyer, called musical copyrights the fuel which powers the entire music industry engine.
"Songwriters and artists, and the music companies that finance and sell their music, directly suffer when karaoke vendors violate those rights for quick profits," he said. "But when the problem is industrywide, as this lawsuit alleges, legitimate record companies like Sybersound unfairly suffer, as well, since they are not able to compete on an even playing field."
© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.
One of the companies named in a music piracy lawsuit filed by a Malibu's Sybersound Records has denied all the allegations.
Coconut Creek, Fla.'s The Singing Machine Co., a karaoke machine and music developer and distributor, is one of six companies named in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Sybersound also filed suit in Ontario Superior Court in Canada, seeking a total of more than $200 million in damages it said arose from music piracy by karaoke record manufacturers.
Singing Machine (AMEX: SMD) Interim Chief Executive Officer Y.P. Chan said his company has yet to be served with a lawsuit, but, based on a Sybersound media announcement, believes the legal action Sybersound discussed is "completely without merit, and we are prepared to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter and are confident that we will be vindicated."
Singing Machine, which has products under its own name, as well as brands including Motown, MTV and Nickelodeon, joins UAV Corp. of Fort Mill, S.C.; Madacy Entertainment Group of Montreal, Canada; Audio Stream and Top Tunes of Hilliard, Ohio; BCI Eclipse of Newbury Park; and Compass Productions of Minneapolis in the domestic suit.
Sybersound itself produces recordings for home-market karaoke use. Product lines include "Party Tyme Karaoke" and "Billboard Top 10 Karaoke."
However, Sybersound said it gets karaoke synchronization licenses from publishers for all songs it releases on its albums and pays royalties for all units sold. The lawsuits allege Sybersound competitors have failed, unlawfully, to license competing karaoke records, and have underreported sales to publishers as a way of selling product below cost and undercutting Sybersound's pricing.
"This has plagued the karaoke business for a long time," said Jan Stevens, Sybersound president and CEO. "We've always been scrupulous about paying writers for the use of their songs, and have expected that our competitors would do the same. It's time for the rest of the industry to do the right thing, and we hope that our lawsuit will help make this happen."
Robert Meloni, Sybersound's New York lawyer, called musical copyrights the fuel which powers the entire music industry engine.
"Songwriters and artists, and the music companies that finance and sell their music, directly suffer when karaoke vendors violate those rights for quick profits," he said. "But when the problem is industrywide, as this lawsuit alleges, legitimate record companies like Sybersound unfairly suffer, as well, since they are not able to compete on an even playing field."
© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.
