Two days after announcing a $53.4 million cash settlement with Seagram's Universal Music Group, MP3.com said yesterday that Unity Entertainment Corp. is leading a charge against it in a class-action copyright infringement lawsuit.
“On behalf of both consumers and artists, we are disappointed to receive this complaint, particularly in light of the strides we have made in securing licensing agreements from now all five of the major record labels,” said Michael Robertson, chairman/CEO of MP3.com.
MP3.com and Seagram's Universal Music Group agreed Tuesday on a $53.4 million cash settlement that will keep the battling companies out of court.
The settlement enables the Internet music company to legally transmit the music of Universal artists such as Eminem and Willie Nelson.
In the months before announcing this final settlement, MP3.com cut deals with Warner Music Group, BMG, EMI and Sony Music Entertainment, the other four large record companies that had sued it for copyright infringement enabled by its downloading service.
Yesterday, Robertson said his firm would respond to the lawsuit “appropriately.”
The company's Web site hosts more than 698,000 songs and audio files from more than 109,000 digital artists and record labels.
