‘Over The Rainbow’ Composer’s Estate Sues Apple, Amazon, and More For Alleged Piracy

The estate of song composer Harold Arlen has filed a lawsuit against several tech companies including Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Pandora, for distributing unauthorized recordings of his music.

According to Billboard, Arlen’s son Sam, who is the “rightful holder of the copyright” of the composer’s music, is accusing these companies and others of running a “massive piracy operation.” 

The lawsuit, which was filed on May 9, claims that with the evolution of technology, bootlegging of Arlen’s work has caused the estate to miss out on “mechanical” royalties. The estate says that many of the tech companies are allowing “bootlegged” copies of Arlen’s work to be sold without the clearance that would allow them to legally reproduce, distribute, stream or sell his music. 

While Arlen’s songs, such as “Over The Rainbow” have been extremely popular, his legal team believes the music industry has been intentionally selling pirated versions of his songs. Apparently, Arlen’s attorneys have found over 6,000 pirated copies of the composer’s work across digital platforms for less money and are seeking compensation.

“Anything less than maximum statutory damages encourage infringement, amount to a slap on the wrist, and reward multibillion and trillion dollar companies that rule the digital music markets for their willful infringement on a grand scale,” the lawsuit states.

Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Pandora have yet to comment in response to the allegations.