14 DAY TRIAL // Cloud music storage service MP3tunes has won in a landmark lawsuit brought against it by music giant EMI and the ruling could serve as legal precedent for similar cases.
The lawsuit lasted several years with EMI claiming that MP3tunes encourages copyrighting infringement through its cloud storage and corresponding search engine service.
U.S. District Judge William Pauley ruled that MP3tunes did not promote copyright infringement and qualifies for "safe harbor" under the DMCA which grants immunity to service providers if they comply with takedown requests.
The judge noted in its ruling that MP3tunes resolved such requests sent to its music search engine, Sideload.com, by removing the infringing accounts.
Sideload.com allows users to search third-party websites, including RapidShare, for music files and add them to their MP3tunes lockers.
"We’ve always operated our music service in a responsible manner and because of that the Judge determined that MP3tunes has protection under the DMCA as a service provider for both MP3tunes and Sideload.com," MP3tunes founder Michael Robertson told TorrentFreak.
"Few companies have been able to stand up to the record labels’ attacks and get rulings from the court on key issues relevant to the future of the internet music and this 29 page ruling will set new precedent if it remains standing," he added.
The judge did not rule against all of EMI's claims. He agreed that MP3tunes should have also removed the infringing files from the lockers of users who added them, instead of just scrubbing them from Sideload.com.
Several EMI employees were also found guilty of copyright infringement for storing unlicensed EMI songs in their accounts. Citing this, the record label tried to spin the ruling in a positive manner.
"We are pleased that MP3tunes and Michael Robertson have been held liable for infringing hundreds of sound recordings and musical compositions through their Sideload and MP3tunes website," it said.