Johnson & Johnson sued for alleged copyright infringement by Sony and Universal-owned production music house APM Music

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has been sued for alleged ‘rampant’ copyright infringement.

In its lawsuit, filed in a California court on Thursday (September 5), prominent US production music house Associated Production Music (APM) claimed that Johnson & Johnson has been using its music in promotional videos posted to YouTube and Facebook without permission.

APM holds a catalog of more than 1 million tracks. The company says in the lawsuit and on its website that its catalog consists of multiple “diverse and in-demand production music libraries”, including KPM Music, Bruton, Sonoton, Cezame, and Kosinus.

APM noted in its lawsuit that its music has also been synced on major entertainment properties such as GLOW, This is Us, Westworld, The Americans, Stranger Things, Atlanta, Game of Thrones, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Lady Bird, Mudbound, The Disaster Artist, The Big Sick, The Shape of Water. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, the Saints Row series, and MLB: The Show.

The company is jointly owned by Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group (neither of which are named as plaintiffs in the suit).

APM explains further in its lawsuit, which you can read here,  that “as the North American subpublisher of its highly valuable catalog, which includes the Copyrights to the Recordings, APM possesses the exclusive rights to record, reproduce, distribute, advertise, and otherwise exploit such copyrighted works, as well as to license others to do so in exchange for the payment of royalties or fees customarily associated with the issuance of such licenses”.

According to APM, “in or about 2024”, it became aware that Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary brands “have engaged, and are currently engaging in, rampant infringement” of its recordings by “exploiting them in connection with numerous promotional postings” on social media platforms.

According to APM Music, “at no point did [Johnson & Johnson] ever obtain APM’s license, authorization, or consent to synchronize the Recordings with the Videos” which were posted to platforms including YouTube and Facebook.

APM claimed that “despite being repeatedly contacted by APM regarding Defendant’s unlicensed uses of the Recordings, Defendant has refused to obtain proper licenses or admit wrongdoing”.

The lawsuit directs three claims against Johnson & Johnson, for direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. APM demands a jury trial.

In the section of the lawsuit dedicated to the ‘Direct’ copyright infringement claim, APM said: “Defendant’s conduct has been intentional, willful and with full knowledge of Plaintiff’s copyrights in the Recordings and the direct infringement thereof”.

It added: “As a direct and proximate result of Defendant’s direct infringement of Plaintiff’s copyrights, Plaintiff is entitled to recover its actual damages, including Defendant’s profits from infringement, as will be proven at trial.”

Alternatively, APM claims that it is entitled to recover up to $150,000 in statutory damages per work infringed.

According to an ‘Exhibit 1’ attachment filed with the lawsuit, Johnson & Johnson used 30 songs in 79 posts without permission.

“Despite being repeatedly contacted by APM regarding Defendant’s unlicensed uses of the Recordings, Defendant has refused to obtain proper licenses or admit wrongdoing.”

APM Music lawsuit

The lawsuit filed against Johnson & Johnson last week forms part of a growing trend of lawsuits against large US-based companies for allegedly using unlicensed music in promotional social media posts.

In July, for example, 14 NBA teams were 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, targeted some of the highest-ranked teams of the 2023-2024 season, including the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

In May, meanwhile, Sony Music Entertainment (SME) filed a lawsuit in the US against Marriott International, accusing the hotel company of “willful” infringement of copyright in social media posts.

In 2021, Sony launched a lawsuit against Gymshark, alleging that the fitness apparel brand had infringed the copyright of 297 recordings in its ads. The two companies settled the lawsuit out of court in 2022.

In November of last year, SME sued OFRA, alleging that the cosmetics brand “achieved its success through blatant, willful, and repeated copyright infringement of the sound recordings and musical compositions of various content owners” in social media posts, including “hundreds” of Sony Music’s sound recordings.Music Business Worldwide