Sony Music sues Applebee’s restaurants over unpaid AC/DC fees

Restaurant chain Applebee’s is coming under fire from Sony Music for using copyrighted music by AC/DC and C+C Music Factory in its ads, despite never coming to an agreement with the label.

As Billboard reports, Sony Music claims that the AC/DC classic ‘Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution’ and C+C’s famous mega-hit ‘Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)’ were used in advertisements, but the deal – involving a $300,000 licensing fee – was never signed off on.

As a result, Sony is suing for both breach of contract, and copyright infringement (the complaint can be read in full here).

The deal was apparently brokered between Music Dealers, a music clearance company that has since folded, and ad agency Barkley Inc, with the closure of the former complicating the situation.

“Applebee’s Services and Barkley have refused to pay the license fees to Sony Music, claiming that they paid them to Music Dealers, that Music Dealers was acting as Sony Music’s agent and that Music Dealers has gone out of business,” attorney Peter Anderson stated, but deemed their excuse “baseless, contrived and in bad faith.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.