(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
[1](c) 1995 Associated Press
NEW YORK (Nov 8, 1995 - 01:42 EST) -- CompuServe Inc. has settled a
lawsuit filed by music publishers that accused the on-line computer
service of copyright infringement involving more than 900 songs.
The 1993 lawsuit alleged that CompuServe violated copyright laws
because subscribers downloaded "Unchained Melody" and other recordings
from CompuServe databases, the service said Tuesday.
It was filed by Frank Music Corp. and supported by The Harry Fox
Agency, a music publishers rights-licensing agency and subsidiary of
the National Music Publishers' Association.
The amount of the settlement, which must be approved by a federal
judge, wasn't disclosed. As part of the deal, CompuServe made no
admission of liability and will make a payment to the Fox agency which
will be divided among the publishers.
The settlement "may lead to a broad industry practice of licensing
musical works utilized by on-line computer services," Edward P.
Murphy, president of the publishers' association, said Tuesday.
The settlement outlines a licensing arrangement under which the Fox
agency would permit future downloading of publishers' songs and
oversee the distribution of royalties.
The publisher's rate for downloading a song is about 7 cents.
CompuServe rates won't be affected by the settlement, said spokesman
Russ Robinson. Royalties would be paid by system operators who run
computer forums on CompuServe, he said.