Ellen DeGeneres: Record companies sue show over copyrights

Ellen DeGeneres: Record companies sue show over copyrights

Ellen DeGeneres again has captured limelight though for a different reason. Some of the world's largest recording companies have decided to sue "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," claiming that the producers violated their copyrights by playing over 1,000 songs without permission.

Several songs were played during the "dance over" segment of the show, when Ellen DeGeneres dances from the stage to the interview area, often through the audience.

According to the suit that was filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, it is said that when representatives of the recording companies asked defendants why they hadn't obtained licenses to use the songs, defendants said that they did not "roll that way."

The suit states, "As sophisticated consumers of music, Defendants knew full well that, regardless of the way they rolled, under the Copyright Act, and under state law for the pre-1972 recordings, they needed a license to use the sound recordings lawfully”.

Scott Rowe, spokesman for the show's Telepictures Productions, wrote in an e-mailed statement that the company has been working with the record labels for months to resolve the issue and remains willing to resolve it on "amicable and reasonable terms."

Rowe said that the issue does not involve DeGeneres, who on Wednesday was named as the fourth judge on TV's "American Idol," and whom Rowe calls "a tremendous music enthusiast and advocate."

The suit claims that the daytime talk show has used copyrighted music without permission since its inception, including "recordings by virtually every major current artist of popular music." It also asserts that the show routinely used some of the most popular songs of the day, which the record labels do not license for daytime television at any price.

Other songs cited in the lawsuit include Michael Jackson's "Thriller"; The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It."

The suit calls the segment and the music played by the show's own disc jockey "signature elements of the show."

Plaintiffs include Atlantic Recording Corp., Capitol Records, Arista Music, Motown Record Company, Sony Music Entertainment, Virgin Records America and Warner Bros. Records.

The suit does not specify the dollar amount that it seeks in damages.