MySpace founder's website wanes lyrical

Original lyrics to A Day In The Life by  Lennon & McCartney

A group of US music publishers led by Warner Chappell, Bug Music and Peermusic have won a lawsuit against a lyrics website run by Brad Greenspan, one of the co-founders of MySpace. The American's National Music Publishers Association had previously announced its members were suing LiveUniverse in August 2009, alleging that the site was infringing copyright by making lyrics available without a licence from the relevant publishers. Judge George Wu ruled in favour of the publishers last week, without a full hearing, because of Greenpan’s "misconduct": Greenspan failed to provide information (discovery) and failed to show up for hearings as required by the court.

In his default judgment Judge Wu said “[the] Defendants have wilfully infringed upon plaintiffs’ copyrights, even after being sanctioned, both by this court and Magistrate Judge Abrams” and “Their blatant disregard for the civil justice system favors a substantial damages award.” LiveUniverse was ordered to pay the claimants $12,500 for each of 528 listed songs which the site published lyrics without permission, a total of $6.6 million, while an injunction bans Greenspan from publishing any other lyrics on his site without first getting permission from the relevant publisher. 

Peermusic III Ltd. v. LiveUniverse Inc., 09- 06160, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles) 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-11/publisher-win-6-6-million-from-greenspan-lyrics-websites.html

The original lyrics to A Day In The Life, the last tack on the Beatle's Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sold for $1.2 million in July 2010 

Publishers launch action against lyric sites

The US National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has filed copyright infringement lawsuits against two businesses which publish unlicensed lyrics through their websites. The lawsuits, headed up by Peermusic, Warner/Chappell and Bug Music, allege that LiveUniverse, Inc. and its owner Brad Greenspan, and Motive Force LLC and its owner Sean Colombo, engage in wilful copyright infringement. The suits, which were filed in filed in the Federal Courts of the Central District of California and Western District of Pennsylvania, seek equitable relief and damages for the defendants' unlicensed use of the lyrics on their websites and in conjunction with certain web applications. NMPA president David Israelite said

"These sites are profiting on the backs of songwriters. It is unfortunate that
copyright holders must so frequently divert energies to protect their rights to
license and distribute their works. However, the demand for music prompts a
seemingly endless stream of illegal business models".

He added:

"Music fans are the biggest losers when licensed businesses, like LyricFind,
Gracenote and TuneWiki can't survive and prosper because unlicensed, illegal
businesses are allowed to thumb their noses at the law …we are confident the
courts will conclude that, like Napster and Grokster before them, these sites
are simply freeloading off artists and fans."

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ia76573c6f2d502a15e774f187baccc91