EMI Group Plc last week sued Electronic Arts, claiming that some
of the top video games company's best selling sports titles used
copyrighted material in their soundtracks in which EMI holds
rights, according to a Reuters report.
The suit alleges that some of the songs used as backing for
"Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004," "MVP Baseball 2004," and "Madden NFL
2004" embodied "copyrighted musical compositions that EMI owns,
co-owns, administers or otherwise controls".
According to the Reuters report, EA had been seeking licences
for certain songs in the course of last year but published the
titles before these were granted. A further request for licences in
February was rebuffed by EMI, which then withdrew all outstanding
offers and launched infringement proceedings.
EMI is claiming damages and a share in the profit on the sale of
the games – which EMI estimates at "tens of millions of
dollars."
According to gamesindustry.biz, the dispute is not about a full
track. An EA spokesperson said that EMI's problem is not with its
use of licensed tracks from the EMI label, but rather with the use
of a sample from one of its tracks in another track.
