EMI Settles $100 Million Case Against InfoSpace

Posted by Eriq Gardner

At the time, EMI's $100 million lawsuit against Infospace looked like it might clear up some of the ambiguity behind the true amount of royalties owed for ringtones. But the suit, filed in January 2007, has been turned down from loud to vibrate after the two parties agreed on an undisclosed settlement, as revealed yesterday.

EMI's case involved accounting irregularities and the alleged unauthorized usage of various songs. Some ringtone aggregators have long maintained that they need only pay a compulsory license fee rather than get permission to use the tone. Others have argued that ringtones are reproductions that make a significant change in a song's composition and thus require a higher royalty rate. EMI's lawsuit relied on a licensing agreement made with InfoSpace subsidiaries Moviso and Premium Wireless Services, dating back to 2000.