Record label Ministry of Sound is suing music service Spotify because its users can create playlists that mimic MoS’s compilation albums and share those playlists with friends. Lest you think the United States has a monopoly on dumb lawsuits, this is all happening in the U.K.
Ministry of Sound isn’t claiming they have copyright on the songs themselves. They don’t. They’re claiming copyright on the order into which they’ve arranged those songs, and they feel the ability Spotify users have to create and share playlists in that same order violates that copyright.
Similar to the Napster lawsuits at the dawn of online music, someone is trying to sue a service for something its users are doing rather than the service itself. Spotify isn’t making playlists that mimic those of Ministry of Sound releases, but the fact that it’s users can is the basis of MoS’s argument.
If there’s one thing the world doesn’t need it’s another dumb thing for companies to sue one another about.
(via The Verge, image via Blixt)
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