USC said Monday it respects the intellectual property rights of others and will respond in court to Sony Music’s allegations that the university has used without permission more than 170 of the label’s songs in social media posts promoting the Trojans.
A lawsuit filed by Sony last week in New York federal court contends that USC did not license songs from the label for the use of material by Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and AC/DC in TikTok and Instagram posts promoting the university’s sports teams.
Sony Music is demanding damages for alleged copyright infringement of $150,000 per song, according to the suit.
USC said in a statement sent to City News Service on Monday that it “respects the intellectual property rights of others and will respond to these allegations in court.”
The complaint alleges that Sony Music has warned USC about its alleged unauthorized use of the label’s music for the past four years. The university uses the music to promote engagement with its sports teams, Sony alleges.
“Despite having been on notice of its infringing conduct, USC has repeatedly failed to obtain licenses for its use of Sony Music sound recordings on the USC Social Media Pages, although it has acknowledged that it needs music licenses, that music licenses must be paid for, that music licenses can be expensive, and that music license requests may be denied,” Sony Music contends in the suit.