Exclusive: Twitter/X Attorneys Seek Answer Deadline Extension as NMPA Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Proceeds

Twitter/X has filed for a three-week response extension in the copyright suit brought against it by a number of music publishers. Photo Credit: Fachrizal Maulana

Closer to March’s beginning, a federal court opted against dismissing outright the copyright lawsuit filed against Twitter/X by the NMPA. Now, the social platform has officially moved to extend the deadline for its answer.This development in the almost year-old infringement battle came to light in a filing from Twitter, which indicated therein that the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) plaintiffs’ counsel had consented to the sought extension.

The court entered the aforementioned ruling on Twitter’s dismissal motion on March 5th, and the Elon Musk-owned service originally had until this coming Tuesday to respond. But “the scope of the case has changed” owing to the dismissal determination, according to the defendant, which is seeking “more time to assess its answer.”

Said additional time refers specifically to another three weeks, for a new response deadline of Tuesday, April 9th. With the presiding judge presumably poised to approve the request, it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for the formal follow-up from Twitter, which, despite failing to have the case tossed altogether, did convince the court to dismiss some of the NMPA’s claims.

As it stands, the copyright confrontation is proceeding based on select components of the plaintiffs’ contributory infringement allegations – and specifically those concerning alleged “forgiving treatment” for verified (i.e., paid) users accused of posting protected works without authorization.

Also at issue is whether Twitter was “unreasonably” slow to act on takedown notices and whether it adequately addressed the actions of “severe repeat infringers.”

Of course, Twitter isn’t the only platform that’s faced an infringement legal action from the NMPA, which in late September of 2021 settled a case brought against Roblox. Back in June of 2022, the organization revealed that it was suing the Shenzhen-based parent company of video-making app Vinkle over alleged infringement.One reassignment and nearly two years later, the case doesn’t yet have a trial date scheduled. In late February of this year, however, the presiding judge delayed the initial case management conference by a little over three months, from March 1st until June 7th.

In other infringement litigation news, Bad Bunny earlier this week levied a complaint against a Spain-based fan over concert footage posted to YouTube. According to the firmly worded action, the Madrid resident recorded and then posted portions of the first show on Bad Bunny’s ongoing Most Wanted Tour – allegedly diverting traffic from the much-streamed act’s official channel in the process.

The involved videos have been deleted (and the appropriate YouTube account decommissioned). But time will tell whether similar uploads, which are still making their way onto the Google-owned platform and different services, are the subject of separate litigation.