Washington - The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), an organization of more than 600 U.S. music publishing companies representing the rights of songwriters, announced on Thursday that it has sued XM Satellite Radio for failing to pay royalties on its XM + MP3 digital music download service.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed a similar copyright lawsuit against XM last year.

Unlike XM's regular radio service, the XM + MP3 service allows users to record and store both individual songs, and blocks of programming transmitted via satellite to radios equipped with hard drives.

The NMPA, which said it filed suit "after months of discussions with XM," is seeking the maximum $150,000 in damages for each work infringed by XM and provided a sample list of 175 songs representing a "small fraction" of those being offered on XM + MP3.

"Filing a lawsuit was our last resort, but we felt that we had no choice," said NMPA president and CEO David Israelite.

"We want new technologies to succeed, but it can't be at the expense of the creators of music."

In January, the judge in the RIAA's lawsuit ruled against XM's motion to dismiss on the grounds that its MP3 player was exempt from infringement claims under the Audio Home Recording Act.

Related Links:
http://www.nmpa.org/pressroom/showrelease.asp?id=129

http://tinyurl.com/2lf7h6 (DMW previous coverage)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act