NEW YORK — A group of indie music publishers is joining the karaoke lawsuit filed last spring by Sybersound Records against six other karaoke record manufacturers.
The publishers become plaintiffs with Sybersound, which does business as Party Tyme Karaoke, in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed Aug. 11 in federal District Court in Los Angeles.
Sybersound filed suit last May in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against some of its competitors, claiming that their failure to license compositions allows them to price their products lower than Sybersound’s properly-licensed packages. As a result, the defendants violated unfair business and trade practice laws.
Defendants named in the federal suit are UAV d/b/a Karaoke Bay and Sterling Entertainment; Madacy Entertainment d/b/a Karaoke Party; Audio Stream d/b/a/ Keynote Karaoke; Top Tunes; and Singing Machine.
The publishers and the compositions in which they claim an interest are Mark Hybner Publishing (“Chicks Dig It,” “Laredo”), Full Circle Music Publishing (“Homewrecker”), Skronk Bonk Tunes (“How Am I Doin'”), World House Hits (“Monday Morning Church”), SHC d/b/a Steele Wheels Music (“Nothin ‘Bout Love Makes Sense”) and Logrhythm Music (“Miss Independent”).
Sybersound adds copyright infringement to its claims for various unfair trade practices. The complaint alleges that the company holds exclusive karaoke rights infringed by the defendants covering 26 songs including “Goodies,” “Lean Back,” “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” “Naughty Girl” and “Yeah.”
Sybersound’s attorney, Robert Meloni in New York, says that the publishers contacted the company after reading about the earlier lawsuits and sought to join its legal fight. Sybersound is voluntarily dismissing its state lawsuit and replacing it with the federal suit. Peter Haviland with Kaye Scholer in Los Angeles is the lead litigation attorney for the publishers and Sybersound.
