Prefer Refuses to Toss SoundExchange vs. SiriusXM — However Is of the same opinion to Shift the Circulation to Original York

A judge denies SiriusXM’s question to toss SoundExchange’s $150 million unpaid royalties lawsuit, but concurs on a alternate of venue to NYC.

After SoundExchange sued SiriusXM last year for added than $150 million in unpaid royalties, the satellite tv for pc radio huge moved to brush off the case for “lack of private jurisdiction,” or as a minimum requested that the case would possibly presumably perhaps honest unexcited be transferred to a special venue. Now, the court has denied SiriusXM’s question for dismissal, but has agreed to transfer the trial to the Southern District of Original York.

“Even despite the indisputable truth that this court […] has explicit interior most jurisdiction over [SiriusXM], the court finds that the interests of justice and luxury of the occasions and doubtless witnesses warrants transferring this case to the Southern District Court docket of Original York,” writes US District Prefer Patricia Tolliver Giles within the resolution, dated July 15.

The initial lawsuit used to be filed in a Virginia federal court in August 2023 by SoundExchange, which collects royalties for the usage of recordings on non-digital platforms. The filing alleges that SiriusXM artificially inflated the revenue attributed to webcasting in its satellite tv for pc and on-line radio packages, amounting to $150 million in withheld royalties. SoundExchange alleges that SiriusXM’s exclusion goes a ways beyond “averting double price of paying quite a bit of royalties on the same revenue,” as an different declaring that “its webcasting carrier produces minimal marginal revenue at most efficient.”

“We were taken aback to search out the clicking release from SoundExchange that it had filed a suit in opposition to SiriusXM within the USA District Court docket of the Eastern District of Virginia,” SiriusXM told Digital Music News on the time. “SiriusXM has repeatedly respected the rights of creators and artists, and over the last ten years has paid SoundExchange royalties of over $5 billion. At the brand new time, royalty payments from SiriusXM signify over 80% of the statutory royalties that SoundExchange distributes to file labels and performers.”

The following month, September 2023, SiriusXM filed a proper motion to brush off the case, citing that Original York Metropolis used to be a extra honest correct jurisdictional venue than Virginia, the keep the case used to be at the beginning filed. In give a boost to of the transfer to transfer venues, SiriusXM’s SVP of corporate finance, Catherine Booker, emphasized that her firm is headquartered in Original York Metropolis, and SiriusXM “employs perfect 5 Virginia-basically based fully mostly workers,” who situation up network operations unrelated to finance or royalty calculations.