OVer the Rainbow
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‘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.

About Retonjah Burdette

Retonjah Burdette is a publicist and published content curator from Atlanta, Georgia. After receiving her Bachelor’s in Public Relations from Georgia Southern University in 2017, Burdette then went on to get field experience with one of the top entertainment PR firms in Atlanta. Since the start of her career, Burdette has worked with a number of actors, authors, entrepreneurs and independent artists. She has secured placements on media outlets such as TV One’s Sister Circle, Good Day Atlanta on FOX, V-103, CBS 46, Kontrol Magazine, KISS 104.1 and Rolling Out to name a few. In addition to her growth in PR, she is currently a writer for Baller Alert, a top platform for news and entertainment. In hopes of bringing the visions of others to life, she launched Girl Avant-Garde in 2019, a creative agency specializing in innovative content, branding and PR in entertainment. Her overall goal is to have autonomy over her creative thought process and to teach branding to new entrepreneurs and others pursuing a career in the public eye.

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