Sony Music Entertainment (SME) has settled its copyright infringement lawsuit against the University of Southern California (USC).
The case, filed in March 2025, alleged that USC repeatedly used Sony-owned recordings without permission in social media posts promoting the school’s athletics programs.
According to a court order filed on March 26 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Gregory H. Woods conditionally discontinued the action after the parties informed the court that the case “has settled.”
The financial terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed.
The order, which you can read here, gives the parties 60 days to submit a formal Stipulation of Settlement and Dismissal, or for Sony Music to apply to restore the case to the court’s active calendar “in the event that the settlement is not consummated.”
If neither side takes action within that window, the order states, it “shall be deemed a final discontinuance of the action with prejudice.”
The court also made clear that it “will not retain jurisdiction to enforce confidential settlement agreements,” adding that if the parties want the court to enforce the deal, they “must place the terms of their settlement agreement on the public record.”
SME’s original complaint presented evidence of 283 social media posts across USC’s athletics accounts that allegedly featured 170 Sony-owned songs without authorization.
Among the tracks cited were recordings by Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, Harry Styles, Usher, and Mariah Carey.
Sony had sought statutory damages of $150,000 per infraction — the maximum allowed under US copyright law — which could have resulted in a maximum statutory award north of $42 million.
The complaint portrayed USC’s athletics operation as a significant commercial enterprise, noting the university recorded more than $7 billion in operating revenues for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, and reported $212 million in athletic revenue for the 2022–2023 school year.
Sony said it had first notified USC of the unauthorized use of its music as far back as June 2021, and again in January 2023 and July 2024. The label alleged that USC continued to post infringing content regardless.
“Rather than cease this infringing conduct, USC chose to flaunt copyright law, repeatedly posting new videos to the USC Social Media Pages that use Sony Music sound recordings knowingly and willfully and without permission,” Sony Music wrote in its original complaint.
During the litigation, USC did not contest the claim of direct copyright infringement, but did successfully have Sony’s secondary infringement claims dismissed.
The settlement follows a pattern of similar actions by major record companies targeting businesses and institutions over unlicensed music in social media content.
In 2024, Sony Music settled a comparable lawsuit against hotel chain Marriott over what it called “rampant” unauthorized use of its music in promotional posts.
Production music house APM, jointly owned by Sony and Universal Music Group (UMG), sued Johnson & Johnson and the American Hockey League last year over similar allegations. UMG also sued Brinker International — the parent company of Tex-Mex restaurant chain Chili’s — over unlicensed music in social media ads.Music Business Worldwide
