recently, Some of the major music publishers in the United States took to Twitter (Twitter) "breed" Took him to court for massive copyright infringement. In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Nashville, Tenn, The companies blame Mr. Elon．Maske (Elon Musk) Twitter, the social media platform it owns, did not terminate the accounts of repeat infringers, And profited from piracy.

Under U. S. law, Online service providers are required to respond to takedown notices, And implement meaningful policies to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.

Many of the big social media platforms follow these rules, But according to a lawsuit filed by several prominent music companies, Twitter is not among them.

Twitter "Spawning massive copyright infringement"

Universal Music, SONY Music, Emi and other companies have filed a complaint with the court, Against Twitter's parent company X Corp "breed" Massive copyright infringement. supposedly, The company did not respond appropriately to the takedown notice, And lack of proper policies to stop piracy.

therefore, By report, Twitter is awash with music piracy. These piracy activities generate millions of page views, The social media platform monetizes on those views, But the rights holders are not compensated.

The complaint said: "Twitter drives its business with countless copies of copyright-infringing music works, Violates the exclusive rights of publishers and others under copyright law. "

"Many of Twitter's competitors recognize the need for proper licenses and agreements to use music works on their platforms, Twitter did not, instead 'breed' Massive copyright infringement to the detriment of music creators. "

The music companies said, Many online platforms have agreed to licensing agreements, But Twitter has little interest in compensating music creators. Since Musk took over the platform, That hasn't changed. On the contrary, His attitude to rights holders seems to have worsened.

The complaint specifically mentions one of Musk's tweets, The tweet will "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" (DMCA) Describe as "Human plague" .

The music companies also point out: "This statement and others like it have been made against Twitter employees on issues related to copyright and infringement, Including pressure from its trusted and security team. "

DMCA Also supported a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. According to one record more than 1600 A temporary list of music works that have been infringed, Potential losses run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Music piracy increases platform revenue"

Twitter relies in part on advertising for its revenue, Ads, in turn, are driven by extra traffic. According to the music company, These ads can also be clearly seen around infringing content.

The complaint lists several examples of infringing tweets surrounded by advertisements and promoting users, Each example has been viewed thousands of times.

In many cases, Users upload infringing music videos to the platform. These videos tend to be very popular and engaging, But with Tiktok, Facebook and YouTube And other platforms are different, The copyright owner will not be compensated.

According to the music companies, These tweets are typical of copyright infringement that is explicitly prohibited by U. S. copyright law. however, They are very popular, Views can reach hundreds of thousands of times, Like one about Rihanna (Rihanna) The same as his tweet.

The music company wrote: "The tweet simply read '15 Before the New Year, Rihanna released it "umbrella" ' , It contains more than two minutes of Rihanna's performance "umbrella" The official music video. This infringing tweet got more than 22. 1 Thousands of views and close 1. 5 Ten thousand 'praise' . "

These numbers don't mean the platform itself is doing something wrong. According to what Musk calls "plague" the DMCA, Services such as Twitter are exempt from liability under certain circumstances. however, Music companies think, This kind of "Safe haven" The rules don't apply here.

DMCA Remove notifications and repeated infringers

The music company says, Twitter pair DMCA The response rate to removal notices was below par. Since the 2021 years 12 Month since, National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) Has sent more than 30 Ten thousand formal infringement notices, But many of them were not immediately deleted.

"Despite claiming to delete tweets within hours or minutes in response to infringement notices, But if action is taken, Twitter often waits longer before taking action. "

"Twitter's motivation for not acting quickly is clear. Twitter wants the tweet to be deleted before it's deleted, Maximize the benefits of infringing content on its platform. Generally speaking, The value of a tweet to Twitter diminishes over time.

On the basis of DMCA, Online platforms must implement policies to combat repeated infringers, Allows termination of accounts that continue to share copyrighted content without permission.

The music companies make a point, Twitter used it in its copyright policy "Terminate" (terminate) One word, But in 2018 years, The wording was changed "Pause" (suspend) . Music companies think, Such pauses are not always permanent.

The complaint said: "Even in the rare cases where an account used for repeated infringement is suspended, Twitter also often reactivates the account at short notice. Twitter has repeatedly suspended and reactivated certain accounts. "

According to the companies, When the account comes back online, Twitter is more tolerant of accounts with large numbers of followers. Here's what they say, Those accounts are more valuable to Twitter's business model.

Hundreds of millions of compensation

Based on these and other arguments, The music company argues that Twitter is responsible for direct and joint copyright infringement. Twitter's actions have caused irreparable and significant harm, The right holder needs to seek compensation.

A list is attached to the complaint 1600 A temporary list of multiple musical compositions. For its works these works, The maximum legal compensation required by the right holder for each work is 15 Ten thousand dollars, That means about 25 Billions of dollars in damages.

It is interesting that, This is not the first lawsuit of this scale against Twitter. Earlier this year, Celebrity photography agency Backgrid A similar lawsuit was filed against Twitter, Claim for compensation 2. 29 Hundreds of millions of dollars. (Be compiled from torrentfreak. com)

TRANSLATORS: Wang Dan　proofread: Liu Peng

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