Music group sues XM for copyright infringement

Washington (DC) - Hitting XM while its legal resources are drained by the potential Sirius merger, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has sued the satellite radio provider for copyright infringement.

The NMPA claims that the company’s "XM + MP3" service is infringing on music copyrights. The service lets listeners download on-air tracks to portable players with built-in hard drives. The group alleges that this "onstitutes pervasive and willful copyright infringement to the overwhelming detriment of copyright holders, legitimate online music services and, ultimately, consumers."

It hits a confusing legal question about where the lines are drawn for different forms of music downloading. Court precedents would uphold the idea that in some circumstances, it is perfectly alright to download music from over-the-air radio. Most notable is the Home Recording Act of 1992, which made it legal for users to record songs off the radio for personal use.

However, that went into effect years before satellite radio and before technology would make it easier to rip songs directly from the radio. The NMPA’s argument is essentially that XM’s service falls more into the same category as Napster and Kazaa.

The suit is seeking as much as $26 million in damages, or $150,000 for each song it claims was infringed by XM.

"XM pays royalties to writers and composers who are also compensated by our device manufacturers. We are confident that the lawsuit is without merit and that we will prevail," said XM spokesperson Chance Patterson in a statement. He went on to call the suit "a negotiating tactic to gain an advantage in our ongoing business discussions."

Earlier this year, Sirius announced plans to acquire XM. The merge is currently awaiting regulatory approval. The two companies will continue to operate separately until the deal is finalized.