My restaurant was recently sued for copyright infringement under Title 17. The Plaintiffs allege the copyright infringment is based on our public performances of copyrighted musical compositions.
What happened was we purchased a karaoke machine from an established karaoke business in NC. We thought since the previous owner had rights to the songs, that there'd be no incidence of copyright infringement if we used the machine at our establishment. We were contacted by ASCAP to pay fees for some of the songs, but didn't since we thought we were fine.
They filed a lawsuit against us and have the date of the known infringement (I'm assuming they came in and requested the song and then recorded/documented us playing it?). Right after we were sued, we contacted them and asked to settle this out of court. They're asking us for $7000 (which includes $2000+ for fees overdue, attorney fees, and statutory damages).
Do you think this is a legitimate amount for them to ask? Or should we hire a lawyer and argue our case? Do we even have a case? We just didn't know any better and need to find the most cost effective way to settle this. Please help.
What happened was we purchased a karaoke machine from an established karaoke business in NC. We thought since the previous owner had rights to the songs, that there'd be no incidence of copyright infringement if we used the machine at our establishment. We were contacted by ASCAP to pay fees for some of the songs, but didn't since we thought we were fine.
They filed a lawsuit against us and have the date of the known infringement (I'm assuming they came in and requested the song and then recorded/documented us playing it?). Right after we were sued, we contacted them and asked to settle this out of court. They're asking us for $7000 (which includes $2000+ for fees overdue, attorney fees, and statutory damages).
Do you think this is a legitimate amount for them to ask? Or should we hire a lawyer and argue our case? Do we even have a case? We just didn't know any better and need to find the most cost effective way to settle this. Please help.
