Warner Music Group is seeking damages in a current lawsuit against Bang Energy, the third-best-selling energy drink in the U.S., and its CEO Jack Owoc. Bang’s success, according to the case, is due to unlawfully using licensed music owned by Warner Music Group without permission on TikTok and Instagram videos. Over 187 songs from the Warner Music Group catalog have been used, including Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, and Dua Lipa, without a license for their social-media ads. Warner Music Group is seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 per song and a court order to permanently block Bang from using its music. Warner Music said it sent Bang a cease-and-desist letter following Universal Music’s lawsuit last year. The case stated that some infringing videos remained up over a year later, and Bang posted new infringing videos after receiving the letter. A judge in the same court found Bang liable for infringing over 200 Sony Music copyrights earlier this year. Bang’s TikTok account has over 1.5 million followers, and TikTok videos with the #bangenergy hashtag have over 18 billion views. Its Instagram account has 2.3 million followers.
– Excerpt from an article for Reuters by Blake Brittain. Read the full article here.
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