Grooveshark responds to lawsuit loss

Earlier this week a federal judge in New York ruled Grooveshark did infringe on over 100,000 of Universal Music’s copyrights.

Universal’s four-year dispute with the online music service marked a major win for the label industry, who has condemned Grooveshark since Universal’s first filed copyright suit in January 2010. It’s believed Universal will file for damages of up to $150,000 per infringing act, throwing the future of Grooveshark in the air and opening the gates for other labels to pursue legal action.

Now, the Escape Media Group Inc. company is doing its best to dismiss its defeat. A statement published on Hypebot reads: “This latest news dealt specifically with an early version of Grooveshark which we dispensed of in 2008 in favor of our current music streaming service. As such, we will continue to work with all parties to ensure we respect all artist and songwriter copyrights.

“Grooveshark’s service has already provided millions of dollars in revenue to artists and labels all over the world, and we are incredibly proud of this,” Grooveshark continued. “We will operate our business with accountability, honesty and courage, and will continue to do so.”

Grooveshark’s General Counsel Marshall Custer further responded in a statement: “We have reviewed the Complaint that Universal Music Group filed last Friday against Grooveshark in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Universal’s claims rest almost entirely on an anonymous, blatantly false internet blog comment and Universal’s gross mischaracterization of information that Grooveshark itself provided to Universal. While Universal has deliberately engaged the media prior to serving a copy of the Complaint on Grooveshark, Grooveshark intends to fight this battle before the Court, not in the press. Grooveshark welcomes the opportunity to present the facts to the Court and has full confidence that it will prevail in the litigation.”