The group of music publishers that brought a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s social media platform X two years ago are in discussions to settle the matter out of court, according to new documents filed over the past week.
In a joint motion the 17 publisher plaintiffs and defendant X wrote that they “have determined to engage in good-faith efforts to fully and amicably resolve this lawsuit.” Work on the case between the parties, including depositions and expert testimonies, “would interfere with prospects of an amicable resolution,” the joint motion says.
The motion was approved and ordered on June 11, pausing the case for 90 days as the sides attempt to resolve it without a judge.
“If the Parties’ discussions are not successful,” the joint motion continues, “the Parties will promptly notify the Court. If discussions remain productive, but a resolution has not been reached within 90 days, the Parties may jointly request a further extension.”
Last year U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara D. Holmes dismissed two of the three claims made against X, letting publishers’ claim of contributory infringement remain. The news was first reported by Music Business Worldwide.
At issue in the case is “pervasive infringing activity” by X of the plaintiffs’ copyrights, as publishers wrote in their initial complaint, which they alleged “is no accident.”
“Twitter [now X] stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service,” National Music Publishers Association president and CEO David Israelite said in a statement around the time of the suit’s filing. “Twitter knows full well that music is leaked, launched, and streamed by billions of people every day on its platform.”
The companies accused X of infringing upon more than 1,500 songs, including “One Way or Another” and “Nuthin’ But a G Thang,” some “hundreds of thousands” of times. The companies initially sought $150,000 in damages per track, or more than $225 million.
“We have a unique problem that plagues the songwriting industry,” Israelite said at NMPA’s annual membership meeting last week. “Songwriters don’t stick together.”
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