Sony Music sues University of Southern California over social media ads

March 12 (Reuters) - Sony Music (6758.T) has sued the University of Southern California in New York federal court for allegedly using more than 170 of the label's songs in videos promoting the school's athletics program without permission.

The label's lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, cited 283 videos with songs from musicians including Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and AC/DC that USC's sports teams supposedly used in TikTok and Instagram posts without licenses. Sony Music asked for statutory copyright damages of $150,000 per song, amounting to tens of millions of dollars in damages.

USC said in a statement that it "respects the intellectual property rights of others and will respond to these allegations in court." Attorneys and spokespeople for Sony Music did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Sony Music said in the lawsuit that it had warned the Los Angeles university about its unauthorized use of the label's music since 2021. The label said USC uses its music to drive social media engagement and sell sports tickets and merchandise.

"Despite having been on notice of its infringing conduct, USC has repeatedly failed to obtain licenses for its use of Sony Music sound recordings on the USC Social Media Pages, although it has acknowledged that it needs music licenses, that music licenses must be paid for, that music licenses can be expensive, and that music license requests may be denied," Sony Music said in its complaint.

Sony Music said it had discussed a potential settlement with USC until January.

The label has filed similar lawsuits against companies including Marriott, which it sued last year. Sony and the hotel chain ended their dispute later that year.

The USC case is Sony Music Entertainment v. University of Southern California, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:25-cv-02042.