14 NBA teams sued for copyright infringement over alleged use of music in social media posts without permission

14 NBA teams have been hit with lawsuits in the US alleging that the pro basketball franchises used copyrighted music without permission in promo videos posted to their social media channels and on the official NBA.com website.

The lawsuits, filed by Kobalt Music Publishing, Artist Publishing Group and others, target some of the highest-ranked teams of the 2023-2024 season, including the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Also facing lawsuits are the Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, and San Antonio Spurs.

All 14 lawsuits were filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday (July 18), and they all allege that the teams in question “did not obtain plaintiffs’ license, authorization, or consent” to synchronize copyrighted music with the videos in question.

The list of publisher plaintiffs varies somewhat from lawsuit to lawsuit, depending on the songs that were allegedly infringed, but all the complaints feature Kobalt Music Publishing, the exclusive licensing agent for all the songs in question, the publishers’ legal complaints state.

Artist Publishing Group, the publishing arm of Mike Caren-founded indie Artist Partner Group, is named as a plaintiff in all of the lawsuits apart from the one against Miami Heat, which you can read in full here.

The complaints argue that the NBA teams “are acutely aware of the protections that the copyright laws of the United States afford,” as they all hold copyrights of their own.

The NBA teams utilize “the full extent of legal protections available for [their] own intellectual property while simultaneously knowingly and willfully infringing on the intellectual property rights of the plaintiffs,” state the lawsuits, which all share similar wording.

The complaint against the New York Knicks (available here) lists 23 allegedly infringed tracks that appeared in videos on the team’s TikTok, Instagram and Facebook channels, as well as NBA.com. Among the tracks are Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now and Busta Rhymes’ Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.

The complaint against the Orlando Magic (available here) lists 37 allegedly infringed tracks, including Major Lazer’s megahit Lean On feat. MØ & DJ Snake, and a track recorded by an NBA legend – Shaquille O’Neal’s (I Know I Got) Skillz, from his 1993 debut album.

The complaint against the Cleveland Cavs (available here) alleges infringement of 16 songs, including the 3LAU remix of Ariana Grande’s Into You, and Jason Derulo’s Swalla feat. Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign.

The complaint against the Indiana Pacers alleges (available here) infringement of just one track – Austin Mahone’s Mmm Yeah feat. Pitbull.

“Defendants are acutely aware of the protections that the Copyright Laws of the United States afford… [They utilize] the full extent of legal protections available for [their] own intellectual property while knowingly and willfully infringing on the intellectual property rights of the plaintiffs.”

Legal complaints against NBA teams, filed by APG and Kobalt

As of Monday (July 22), many, if not all, of the videos listed in the lawsuits were no longer available for viewing on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and NBA.com.

“By licensing the rights to reproduce, distribute, and/or publicly perform the video[s], [the NBA teams] induced and encouraged these websites to directly infringe plaintiff’s copyrights,” the complaints state.

The lawsuits seek the statutory maximum of $150,000 per violation of direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement, which, depending on the number of infringements, could lead to damages in the millions of dollars for the NBA teams in question.

The suits against the basketball teams come amid a flurry of copyright infringement actions from major music industry players in recent weeks.

In late June, record companies owned by the three music majors – Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group – sued the companies behind AI music generators Suno and Udio, arguing that these technologies had been trained on copyrighted music without the owners’ permission.

Most recently, all three majors, along with ABKCO MUSIC, sued Verizon, one of the US’s largest internet service providers, for what they described as “massive copyright infringement committed by tens of thousands of its subscribers”.

Lawsuits against companies using music in social media posts without permission have also become commonplace in the music industry in recent years. In 2021, for example, Sony Music sued fitness brand Gymshark for infringing 297 recordings in ads.

In May, Sony Music filed a lawsuit in the US against Marriott International, accusing the hotel company of “willful” infringement of copyright in social media posts.Music Business Worldwide