George Lopez is suing streaming giant Pandora, alleging they failed to license his comedy specials before airing them on their platform.
The famous comedian claims Pandora exploited materials that were copyrighted, specifically standup comedy from two of his specials. The legal documents filed by Lopez accuse Pandora of streaming more than 37 of the works found within his “Right Now Right Now” release from 2001 and “Team Leader” from 2003, according to TMZ. He claims Pandora failed to acquire the proper license to distribute these specials and he wants a full account of the profits they made, as well as payment for damages, according to the outlet.
George Lopez is all for getting his comedy out into the world by any means possible — but he claims streaming giant Pandora never even bothered to license his comedy specials before streaming them … which is why he’s dragging them to court. https://t.co/eJO75DFGjK
— TMZ (@TMZ) August 23, 2022
The documents indicate there are 18 chapters in “Right Now Right Now” and 19 in “Team Leader,” and Lopez alleges that each was ripped off by Pandora in its entirety, according to TMZ. Lopez slammed Pandora, saying he did not give permission for these to be used.
“Pandora not only did not obtain any license for the Works but admitted that it did not do so in SEC filings, and admitted that it would very likely face copyright infringement liability as a result,” Lopez’s attorneys wrote, according to TMZ. “But Pandora did what most goliaths do: it decided it would infringe now to ensure it had this very valuable intellectual property on its platform to remain competitive, and deal with the consequences later. Later is now.” (RELATED: Mariah Carey Sued For $20 Million)
If Pandora fails to provide detailed financial accounts of the collected profits, Lopez says he will seek statutory damages totaling $5.5 million for the alleged infringements, according to TMZ.