Photo Credit: Dima Solomin
Over three years into their ugly infringement showdown, Epidemic Sound and Meta are still battling it out. Now, building on the initial suit, the royalty-free music platform has fired off a second copyright complaint.
The straightforward action made its way to a California federal court earlier this week, more than 40 months after Epidemic formally accused the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp parent of “massive infringement.”
We can simultaneously recap the years-old allegations and cover the fresh claims without worrying about omitting key details; Epidemic’s newer suit closely resembles that which arrived in 2022.
In the plaintiff’s own words, the “substantively” similar cases “concern substantially the same property, transaction and event.”
According to the filing party, “Meta’s infringement continues, and now extends to Epidemic’s newly-released works as well.”
(The days-old complaint points to a 50,000-work Epidemic catalog, up from 38,000 in 2022, with both seeking damages for recordings and underlying compositions alike. Plus, the 2025 action involves “a completely new representative set of at least 1,000 works, none of which are at issue in” the older suit.)
Furthermore, Meta is allegedly continuing to allow users to lift Reels’ “original audio” (meaning unlicensed audio) for their own clips, including from videos themselves and from an audio library. And Epidemic’s catalog is allegedly falling into the “original” category en route to being incorporated into additional videos without licensing permission or compensation, per the legal text.
Similarly, the “Reels Remix” feature, which, in keeping with its name, enables users to put their own spin on previously uploaded Reels (and any audio therein), is said to be contributing to the alleged infringement.
“By incorporating such ‘original audio,’ or unlicensed music, Meta has allowed, and actively markets, music that it knows to be unlicensed to be utilized across its platforms, financially benefiting from this activity,” Epidemic summed up.
Like in the first suit, Epidemic is seeking relief for direct and contributory infringement. Meta, which has allegedly rejected “Epidemic’s repeated requests for access” to rights management tools, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
As for where the marathon courtroom confrontation goes from here, the 2022 case has put its trial plans on ice pending the Supreme Court’s Cox v. Sony Music ruling. And among other things, Epidemic and Meta are each pushing for summary judgment, with a hearing scheduled for late February.
More immediately, the plaintiff is also urging the court to deem the new suit related to the years-old complaint.
In Epidemic’s view, doing so is advisable because of the allegations’ overlap, in light of the summary judgment motions, and due to the “risk of conflicting results if the cases are conducted before different judges.”
“[A]s this Court knows too well,” Epidemic wrote in its administrative motion, “discovery in EvM I was rife with disputes and, having lasted nearly three years, was extremely expensive. The Court’s helpful guidance and resolution of many discovery disputes in EvM I should greatly streamline discovery in EvM II, which will concern much of the same (or similar) documents and data as in EvM I.”
