December 19, 2017
The Second Circuit on Tuesday shot down a U.S. Department of Justice rule barring music licensing groups BMI and ASCAP from so-called fractional licensing, saying the agency must formally modify long-standing antitrust settlements if it wants to ban the practice.
November 27, 2017
The Second Circuit has denied a request from Google, Netflix and other media industry heavyweights to appear at oral arguments in the U.S. Department of Justice's dispute with Broadcast Music Inc., saying the companies should offer feedback to the court by letter instead.
November 22, 2017
Broadcast Music Inc. asked the Second Circuit on Wednesday to bar Google, Netflix and media industry players from opposing its right to sell partial interests in music in the U.S. Department of Justice's suit against the performance rights organization, saying their arguments are irrelevant.
November 20, 2017
Google, Netflix and several other media industry players asked the Second Circuit on Friday for permission to appear at oral arguments in the U.S. Department of Justice's dispute with Broadcast Music Inc., saying the DOJ has left open a possibility for BMI to sell partial interests in music, despite previously arguing against the practice.
August 28, 2017
A songwriters association has urged the Second Circuit to uphold a New York federal court's finding that a new interpretation of World War II-era antitrust consent decrees does not force Broadcast Music Inc. to change the way it licenses artists' works.
August 18, 2017
There is no support for the government's position that a decades-old antitrust consent decree prohibits Broadcast Music Inc. from issuing fractional licenses for music performance rights and a lower court's rejection of that interpretation should be upheld, BMI told the Second Circuit on Thursday.
May 30, 2017
Google, Netflix and other industry giants threw their support behind the U.S. Department of Justice in a dispute with Broadcast Music Inc. over the use of fractional licenses for music, telling the Second Circuit that allowing this partial ownership would raise prices and create a greater risk for copyright infringement.
May 18, 2017
The U.S. Department of Justice defended its recent interpretation of a 75-year-old antitrust agreement with BMI governing the licensing of music performance rights at the Second Circuit on Thursday, saying a lower court judge incorrectly found the consent decree allows fractional licensing of compositions.
April 27, 2017
The Second Circuit stuck to its guns Wednesday and denied the U.S. Department of Justice's second request for more time to file its principal brief in its appeal of a decision siding with Broadcast Music Inc. over a decades-old antitrust agreement governing the licensing of music performance rights.
April 21, 2017
Two of the U.S. Department of Justice's biggest pending antitrust appellate fights against AmEx and BMI are poised to remain on ice until summer, as the watchdog waits for its new leadership to get into place.