Sony Face Off With Cheerleaders In New Legal Case

Sony Music Entertainment have taken legal action against a number of parties over alleged copyright infringements relating to custom cheerleading mixes.

Reported by Law360, Sony is suing two individuals and four companies in New York, most notably Extreme Traxx Productions and its owner Thomas Locklayer, for selling illegal mix albums featuring music by Beyoncé and Adele to cheerleading competitions.

Sony says it sent cease and desist letters to Extreme Traxx and Locklayer, as well as other defendants Cheer Music Store Inc., Cheer Music Machine LLC, Cheerleading Music Service LLC and its owner Mark Bryan, in April 2013 but subsequent meetings were unsuccessful – if the recipient replied at all.

The Sony complaint says “This is an action for the blatant, willful and ongoing infringement of Sony Music's copyrights in and to certain sound recordings.

“Defendants sell, distribute and commercially exploit customized 'mixes' of popular sound recordings for use in cheerleading competitions that include Sony Music's copyrighted sound recordings without any attempt to obtain the requisite permission.”

According to the Exrreme Traxx website, the company describes themselves as “the most renowned customized music company in the world.”

Sony claims that Extreme Traxx made between $850 (for a “traditional high school” 1 minute 30 second mix) and $1,500 per mix and the Cheer companies between $75 aand $249 per mix.

The suit was filed on Monday with summons now issued for the defendants.