Peloton’s Antitrust Counterclaim Dismissed in Copyright Suit brought by Various Music Publishers

Downtown Music Publishing LLC, et al. v. Peloton Interactive, Inc., No. 19-cv-2426-DLC, 2020 WL 469639 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 29, 2020)

In March of 2019, fifteen music publishers (the “Music Publishers”), whom are all members of the National Music Publishers’ Association (“NMPA”), filed a lawsuit against Peloton Interactive for copyright infringement.  The suit alleged that Peloton had infringed various works owned by NMPA members when Peloton played sound recordings of the works in its recorded workout videos without obtaining licensing agreements. Prior to the filing of the suit, Peloton had made attempts to negotiate licensing agreements with both NMPA and several of the Music Publishers separately to no avail. Upon initiation of the suit, Peloton asserted an Antitrust counterclaim against the NMPA and the Music Publishers alleging that the NMPA was seeking to obtain “supracompetitive license terms” from Peloton by having the Music Publishers refuse to deal with Peloton. In response, the Music Publishers and the NMPA filed a motion to dismiss the counterclaim.  On January 29, 2020, the court granted the motion to dismiss, reasoning that even taking Peloton’s allegations as true, it did not illustrate a legally sufficient “relevant market” that such anticompetitive behavior harmed.