Warner Music Group (WMG) has launched a lawsuit against Ray-Ban’s parent company.
The label asserts that the eyewear company has used hundreds of its works in social media advertisements without paying for the rights.
The complaint, obtained by Billboard, accuses Italian eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica of infringing 427 copyrights owned by WMG.
The music company is seeking the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 (£114,000) per work, adding up to a total of $64 million (£48.5 million).
WMG alleges that EssilorLuxottica, which owns Ray-Ban, Oakley and Sunglasses Hut, regularly uses unlicensed music in ads to its more than 36 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
These videos have featured recordings by WMG artists including Charli and Dua Lipa, as well as compositions from Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Travis Scott.
According to the lawsuit, the ads have been “wildly successful” in selling sunglasses and have earned the company billions of dollars.
“Defendants used the Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works to build their brand profiles and drive sales without paying any compensation to Plaintiffs,” reads the lawsuit.
“Defendants not only failed to pay for the use of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, but by including these works in the Luxottica videos without Plaintiffs’ consent, Defendants deprived Plaintiffs and their artists and songwriters of the ability to control how and where their art is used.”
Over the past few years, music companies have launched a large-scale legal crackdown on the use of unlicensed tracks by brands on social media. While platforms like Instagram and TikTok have blanket licenses in place that allow individual users to soundtrack their videos, commercial accounts are required to purchase a ‘sync licence’.
Brands including Chili’s, Marriott, and Designer Shoe Warehouse have settled legal cases over this issue.
