Sirius XM Loses Pre-1972 Music Lawsuit, Potential Damages In $100s Of Millions

In a ruling that could have major impact on all broadcasters, California U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled that Sirius XM must pay copyright fees for pre-1972 recordings. Flo & Eddie of The Turtles brought the lawsuit in 2013 over the public performance of "Happy Together" and their other pre-1972 sound recordings seeking $100 million in damages.

Let The Lawsuits Begin

Lawyers representing other artist who released recording prior to 1972 are salivating over the court ruling, which reads: “On undisputed facts, Sirius XM publicly performs Flo & Eddie’s sound recordings without authorization to do so…At minimum, Flo & Eddie was injured by Sirius XM’s conduct in the form of foregone licensing or royalty payments that Sirius XM should have paid before publicly performing Flo & Eddie’s recordings.”

SiriusXM is already facing another lawsuit from the RIAA in California and from Flo & Eddie in other states. Pandora is also facing a similar lawsuit in New York.