Warner Music Sues TV Software Company That Enables Streaming

Warner Music filed suit on Wednesday against Future Today, a software developer that enables music streaming through Smart TV channels.

Future Today has developed a variety of channels that are available on Smart TVs and through devices such as Roku. The channels — which have titles like Pop Music by Fawesome, Fawesome TV Music, and RnB Music — stream copyrighted songs without a license, according to the suit. Often the songs are accompanied by music videos or video of concert performances.

The lawsuit bears a resemblance to recent suits filed by Netflix, Amazon, and the six major studios, in which the content creators are pursuing the makers of Dragon Box and TickBox, two TV streaming devices that enable access to copyrighted films and TV shows.

In the latest suit, Warner alleges that the various “channels” created by Future Today have infringed on more than 70 songs owned by Warner, including David Guetta’s “Hey Mama” as well as songs from the O’Jays, Garth Brooks, Curtis Mayfield, and Katy Perry.

“Plaintiffs are informed and believe, and on that basis aver, that further investigation will reveal many more musical compositions owned and/or controlled by Plaintiffs, in whole or in part, that are being unlawfully exploited on Defendant’s Channels,” the suit states.

On its website, Future Today describes itself as a distribution platform for content creators. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.