Lawsuit Targets Ford, GM Over Song-Ripping CD Players in Cars
A new music copyright lawsuit against U.S. car manufacturers may be one of the more puzzling rearguard actions fought by the U.S. recording industry in recent memory. The lawsuit has set its sights on Ford and GM for selling cars that can rip CDs onto vehicle hard drives—a legal tactic that may be doomed in the face of past court rulings that favored similar song-ripping devices.
The class action lawsuit comes from the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC), a nonprofit focused on copyright protection for more than 300,000 artists, according to Computerworld. AARC’s legal filing aims to collect potentially millions in royalties from Ford, GM, and the tech companies Denso and Clarion that built CD-ripping devices for vehicle models starting in 2011. The music industry association says such devices violate the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, which technically requires the payment of royalties as well as the inclusion of technology safeguards to allow the copying of only legally-bought CDs.
More: Lawsuit Targets Ford, GM Over Song-Ripping CD Players in Cars - IEEE Spectrum