A federal judge denies summary judgment, sending MLC’s lengthy mechanical royalties battle against Pandora to trial.
A federal judge has denied summary judgment in the Mechanical Licensing Collective’s (MLC) massive 7,000-page royalties case against Pandora, ruling that if it took that many pages to argue, then a jury should definitely review it.
The MLC is suing curated internet radio service Pandora for higher “interactive” mechanical royalties, arguing that the platform’s free tier offers a “Sponsored Premium Access” feature by which users watch ads for the ability to play specific songs on demand. The MLC argues that this feature transforms Pandora from a “non-interactive” radio service into an “interactive” platform, similar to Spotify, and that this change necessitates higher royalty payments.
Pandora has denied the MLC’s claims, calling them “plainly and unmistakably wrong,” and accuses the collective of abusing its power.
Both sides asked a judge to enter judgment in their favor earlier this year. But Judge Eli Richardson declined to review the “corpulent” 7,000 pages of 263 documents provided by both MLC and Pandora to make a decision.
“The court in its discretion finds that it would be more efficient to deal with all contested issues and examine the fulsome factual record at trial rather than expending the (very substantial) judicial resources necessary to dispose of the motions,” wrote Judge Richardson.
Regardless, the judge noted that even if he did take the time to review all the documents in the case, a trial would still likely be unavoidable.
“If a party has to file thousands of pages and hundreds of documents to explain why there is nothing for a jury to decide […] then the volume suggests that there is indeed something for the jury to see,” the judge added.
A trial date has not yet been scheduled. It’s also possible the two parties could reach a settlement before the matter reaches a jury.
The judge’s decision follows a similar lawsuit against Pandora’s parent company, SiriusXM, filed by SoundExchange back in 2023. SoundExchange accused SiriusXM of underpaying recorded royalties by manipulating its bundled offers—an allegation that the MLC also made against Spotify in a lawsuit filed after its action against Pandora in 2024.
