Johnson & Johnson is facing a lawsuit that accuses the pharma giant of “rampant infringement” of copyrighted instrumental music in YouTube and Facebook videos.
In a complaint filed last week in Los Angeles federal court, Associated Production Music (APM) claims that J&J released nearly 80 different internet videos featuring unlicensed “production music” — an industry term for stock tracks created for use in videos, podcasts and other content.
“At no point did defendant ever obtain APM’s license, authorization, or consent to synchronize the Recordings with the Videos,” the company’s lawyers write. “Moreover, despite being repeatedly contacted by APM regarding Defendant’s unlicensed uses of the Recordings, Defendant has refused to obtain proper licenses or admit wrongdoing.”
APM, a joint venture of Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing, describes itself as the top purveyor of production music in the country, controlling huge libraries of songs that have appeared in TV shows (Stranger Things, Game of Thrones and Spongebob Squarepants), movies (Lady Bird, The Shape of Water and The Big Sick) and video games (Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and MLB: The Show). One particularly notable APM song is “Heavy Action,” the theme to Monday Night Football.
Earlier this year, APM says it discovered that J&J had been using the company’s songs without permission. The lawsuit lists out 79 different videos featuring 30 different APM songs, like a YouTube video posted by J&J in May 2021 called “Nurse Leaders Disrupting Healthcare.” The video, which features an upbeat instrumental track behind narration, allegedly used an APM track called “Driving Inspiration” without securing a license.
The lawsuit is light on details, and it’s unclear how a sophisticated company came to release dozens of videos without securing licenses for the music. A representative for J&J did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegations.
Though the songs in question are hardly Hot 100 hits, intentionally using them without a license would still be a costly decision for J&J. Under federal copyright law, a judge can award as much as $150,000 per song infringed if a defendant acted willfully — nearly $12 million for all the songs involved.