Wolfgang’s Vault Countersuit Dismissed

Wolfgang’s Vault, which hosts videos and audio recordings from Bill Graham’s collection of shows he promoted throughout San Francisco, was sued by the National Music Publishers Association for copyright infringement in May 2015.

Once the suit was announced via press release, Wolfgang’s Vault filed a countersuit claiming that the statement falsely portrayed their business as being entirely composed of illegal materials, while the actual suit was based on hundreds of instances of infringement.

David Israelite, NMPA president and CEO, said in the release: “The Wolfgang’s Vault websites have profited in large part because of the significant use of unlicensed music, primarily concert footage, available on their sites … Systematic copyright infringement cannot be a business model, and it is unfortunate that Wolfgang’s Vault chose not to compensate all of the creators responsible for their content.”

The judge ruled, however, that language in the press release clearly acknowledged some of the Vault’s content was properly licensed, and even if it was implied that all of the music was illegal, this wouldn’t be sufficient grounds for the suit.