Apple wins Dismissal of Ramones Suit over Downloads

From Mercury News
Apple and Wal-Mart Stores won dismissal of a lawsuit by a member of the punk band the Ramones who claimed a 24-year-old recording contract prevented retail sales of digital downloads of six songs he wrote.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York rejected former drummer Richard Reinhardt's claim that a 1984 accord with Ramones Productions limited sales to phonographic records and other tangible technology. Apple, Wal-Mart and software company RealNetworks said the copyright suit, filed in September, should be dismissed because music downloads were covered in the contract by a reference to technology "now or hereafter known." The judge agreed.

The ruling clears the way for Apple to continue selling downloads through iTunes of "Smash You," "Human Kind," "I'm Not Jesus" and three other Ramones tunes written by Reinhardt.

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