Musk’s X and Major Labels end multi-million-dollar music copyright dispute

The high-stakes legal warfare between Elon Musk’s X Corp. and the music industry has come to an abrupt and permanent end.

According to federal court filings, a group of major music publishers including Universal Music Group and Sony Music have agreed to end a legal dispute with Elon Musk's X Corp over the use of their music ‌on the X social-media platform.

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In a pair of coordinated federal court filings, major music publishers and X filed joint stipulations to dismiss their multi-million-dollar legal battles with prejudice, meaning neither side can refile their respective claims. 

The sudden armistice effectively terminates the National Music Publishers’ Association’s (NMPA) sprawling $250 million copyright infringement case in Tennessee, as well as X’s retaliatory antitrust countersuit in Texas, leaving both the social media platform and the music titans to walk away bearing their own legal fees.

X Corp and the music labels asked a Tennessee federal court, on Thursday to dismiss the labels' lawsuit that accused X of infringing hundreds of their copyrights by allowing its users to post their songs without a license.

They also asked a Texas federal court, to dismiss a countersuit X had filed that accused the labels of conspiring to block competition and forcing the platform to license their songs at inflated rates.

Spokespeople for X Corp, the labels and their trade group the National Music Publishers Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment and more information, including whether their dispute was settled. 

The filings asked the courts to dismiss the claims with prejudice, which means they cannot be refiled.

A group ‌of 17 music publishers sued X in Nashville, Tennessee in 2023, seeking more than $250 million in damages for the alleged infringement of nearly 1,700 copyrights. 

The lawsuit said that X "routinely ignores" users' copyright infringement and that other major platforms like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube properly license music from the publishers.

X countersued the publishers in Texas in January, accusing them of violating federal antitrust law by refusing to negotiate individual licensing deals. 

While the publishers told the court in April that the case should be dismissed.