{"id":6860,"date":"2025-07-11T20:59:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T20:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/dsw-hits-back-at-umg-sony\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T20:59:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T20:59:04","slug":"dsw-hits-back-at-umg-sony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/dsw-hits-back-at-umg-sony\/","title":{"rendered":"DSW\u00a0Hits Back at\u00a0UMG & Sony"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tA<\/span> new lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment is flipping the script on the major labels\u2019 common practice of taking legal action against businesses that don\u2019t pay for the songs in their social media posts.<\/p>\n

\n\tNationwide shoe retailer DSW is one of many companies to be sued recently for using copyrighted songs in Instagram and TikTok videos without paying so-called \u201csynch\u201d licenses to the labels. But while many brands settle these claims, DSW is going on the offensive in an unusual federal lawsuit filed Wednesday (July 9).<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the labels and social media platforms have entered into blanket licensing agreements that allow users to access huge libraries of music for their videos, music companies require brands to get separate synch licenses for commercial and promotional posts. <\/p>\n

\n\tDSW\u2019s lawsuit says this is wrong, and the blanket licenses should cover businesses, too. Otherwise, alleges the shoe company, the labels are unfairly double-dipping to get extra fees on top of the hefty licenses already negotiated.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn short, this case is about the labels\u2019 greed,\u201d write DSW\u2019s lawyers from the firm Barnes & Thornburg.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe dispute began in May when Warner Music Group (WMG) filed a lawsuit alleging DSW\u2019s social media posts used unlicensed songs by artists like Cardi B, Madonna and Taylor Swift. Sony and UMG then sent settlement demand letters to the shoe chain over many of the same allegedly unlicensed tracks.<\/p>\n

\n\tDSW\u2019s lawyers say such settlement demands, a common practice for the labels, are an attempt to \u201cbully\u201d brands in order to extract a payday. The complaint says that copyright lawsuits, even if ultimately meritless, are expensive to defend. Many companies will therefore settle immediately rather than risk costly litigation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe labels\u2019 threats to file copyright infringement lawsuits based on [DSW\u2019s] lawful conduct are simply opportunistic attempts to extract still more money for copyrights on which they have already received full compensation,\u201d write the DSW attorneys. \u201cThe power to assert a copyright claim, even unlawfully, is a cudgel that can be used to force unjustified settlement payments from innocent users of social media platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDSW\u2019s complaint quotes extensively from TikTok and Instagram\u2019s terms of service, saying these legal disclaimers \u201cdo not distinguish between user accounts associated with individuals, businesses or other groups or entities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s worth noting, though, that TikTok\u2019s terms of service specify that they apply only to \u201cprivate, non-commercial use.\u201d Similarly, guidelines from Instagram parent company Meta state, \u201cUse of music for commercial or non-personal purposes in particular is prohibited unless you have obtained appropriate licenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReps for Sony and UMG declined to comment on the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe major labels\u2019 practice of pursuing legal action over synch licenses dates back to 2021, when the big three all sued drink maker Bang Energy and obtained closely-watched court judgments.<\/p>\n

\n\tLabels and publishers have since brought lawsuits over unlicensed music in social media posts against businesses ranging from Chili\u2019s to NBA teams to car dealerships. The bulk of these cases get settled confidentially.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment is flipping the script on the major labels\u2019 common practice of taking legal action against businesses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6446,6445,1840],"class_list":["post-6860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-atumg","tag-dswhits","tag-sony"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}