A Chili’s location in Georgia. Photo Credit: Michael Rivera
Moments following the conclusion of Sony Music’s social-media-focused copyright lawsuit against Marriott, a similar infringement complaint, levied this time by Universal Music Group (UMG) and naming Chili’s parent Brinker International as a defendant, has kicked off.
UMG submitted the to-the-point action – one of several ongoing disputes over brands’ alleged infringement in social-media promo videos – to a Texas federal court. As noted, a Sony Music v. Marriott legal battle just recently drew to a close, and Brinker isn’t a stranger to industry coverage.
That’s because the Dallas-based Chili’s and Maggiano’s owner is also fending off infringement allegations, once again centering on social media, from the Beastie Boys. We broke down the complaint, specifically accusing the defendant of incorporating “Sabotage” into an advert campaign sans authorization, when it was filed this past July.
With the courtroom confrontation still unfolding, however, Brinker is now facing a comparatively sweeping suit from UMG.
As far as infringement claims go, the action is straightforward enough: Brinker purportedly used UMG’s protected music in promo clips via the main Chili’s social handles “without permission or payment.”
Those “scores of” allegedly infringed Universal Music works include recordings and compositions alike, releases from Justin Bieber, ABBA, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg, and Frank Sinatra among them, to name a few.
Moreover, as the major-label plaintiff sees it, discovery will likely “reveal that Defendants have unlawfully exploited other sound recordings and musical compositions.”
A big chunk of the alleged infringement looks to have occurred on TikTok, with the remaining alleged unauthorized usages attributed to Instagram clips. (In general, platforms’ song libraries are cleared for personal but not commercial use, different cases have underscored.)
UMG included links to boot; some of the posts had been deleted (or, alternatively, the provided links, a portion tied to Reels, had ceased working) at the time of writing.
In any event, the defendants allegedly have “no effective procedures for ensuring that the social media content posted for their Chili’s commercial restaurant businesses does not violate others’ copyrights,” according to the lawsuit.
Notwithstanding the allegation, UMG also highlighted purported licensing talks with the defendants. Brinker “did obtain a license from a relevant Plaintiff to use musical works in a few videos at issue, but they have exploited the works beyond the bounds of the applicable licenses,” the appropriate line reads.
As the case plays out – assuming it isn’t promptly dropped like the initially mentioned Sony Music-Marriott complaint – additional details about that seemingly important license should come to light.
Among other things, the filing parties are seeking damages for vicarious and contributory infringement, besides a permanent injunction prohibiting further alleged infringement.
During today’s trading, Brinker stock (NYSE: EAT) slipped by almost 2% to $82.96 per share. Despite the dip, EAT is up over 97% from 2024’s start and a whopping 178% from October of 2023.
