Universal alleged that Grouper.com – recently acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment – and Bolt.com had built up traffic by encouraging users to share music videos from its artists without their permission. It claimed a video for the Mariah Carey song “Shake it Off� was viewed more than 50,000 times on Grouper without the company’s permission.
Josh Felser, co-founder and CEO of Grouper, said: “The lawsuit is without merit and we expect to prevail. Our website is protected by federal law and we’re vigilant about taking down copyrighted content when we’re properly notified.�
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