Will the NMPA and X Settle? Judge Approves Pause for ‘Good-Faith Efforts to Fully and Amicably Resolve’ the Copyright Suit

Will X and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) hammer out a deal in their copyright dispute? Possibly, as they’ve asked the court for a stay amid “good-faith efforts to fully and amicably resolve” the suit.

Counsel for X as well as the NMPA-corralled plaintiff publishers recently requested and received that 90-day pause, thereby suspending all deadlines until early September. The jointly sought adjournment arrived ahead of a mid-July wrap on “a rigorous period of fact discovery,” the same parties summed up.

Also forthcoming (assuming a settlement doesn’t materialize, of course) are “numerous depositions,” “substantial work to do with testifying experts,” and additional time-consuming obligations, X and the NMPA indicated.

With the stay official, said obligations are on ice for the time being; the social platform and the publisher rep should “promptly notify the Court” if the talks fuel a compromise or fall through, Judge Aleta A. Trauger ordered.

Meanwhile, if the discussions deliver progress but not a full-scale resolution during the roughly three-month window, the parties can seek an extension, according to Judge Trauger’s order.

In other words, with the specter of a marathon courtroom confrontation weighing heavily on both sides, time will tell whether the negotiations produce an agreement. Per separate litigation yet, in general, rightsholders and the tech world are poles apart when it comes to IP.

But the rather apparent fact won’t necessarily preclude a settlement here. As first reported by DMN last month, Snapchat’s parent has embraced publisher licensing pacts – with an NMPA-structured contract directly acknowledging that “the parties disagree as to whether…Snap is required to obtain a license.”

Nevertheless, the same terms expressly bar member publishers from suing the company over the use of their compositions and lyrics during the relevant period. Stated differently, when the choice boils down to years of expensive litigation or a license, the latter may prove preferable regardless of the defendant platform’s broader stance on the subject.

All this said – and despite other settlement rumors – we’ve also seen deep-pocketed tech giants dig in to fight infringement actions. Notwithstanding prior rumblings of a trial and a possible settlement, the Epidemic Sound v. Meta showdown is still unfolding ahead of the third anniversary of its start.

On May 7th, an over 10-hour-long settlement conference held before a magistrate judge evidently failed to bring about a resolution. “Case did not settle,” the appropriate docket entry summarized for good measure.