“Pending Lists” Canadian Unpaid Royalties Class Action

This action was commenced on August 14, 2008 to recover the mechanical and video royalties alleged to be improperly withheld from the copyright owners of the affected musical works. The case alleged that major record label operating in Canada maintained a list described as the “Pending List”, which included  musical works that had been copied and sold without payment of the applicable mechanical or video royalty to the copyright holder.

The action was certified as a class proceeding for the purposes of settlement on May 30, 2011. Class Counsel recovered approximately $45,000,000 for the benefit of the class members. A successful notice, claims and distribution process followed resulting in the distribution of the settlement recoveries to class members between. The settlement also included a process for the identification and payment of certain additional unpaid royalties identified after the initial settlement date. More than $10 million additional dollars have been paid into the settlement administration structure for distribution to class members pursuant to that process.