February 25, 2009

By By Antony Bruno, Denver

EMI Music Group, with subsidiary Capitol Records, has joined in the lawsuit against Internet music search engine SeeqPod, joining Warner Music Group which originally took action last January. The EMI suit was filed in New York, while the WMG filing was in California.

EMI has also expanded the scope of the dispute by naming several SeeqPod employees and investors as defendants, not just the company itself. CEO Kasian Franks, founder and chief scientist Raf Podowski and investor Shekhar Lodha of eSynergi Ventures were specifically targeted.

A SeeqPod spokeswoman says the company will continue to operate as usual, and defends the service as legal. She said SeeqPod is hoping to ultimately strike partnership deals with the major labels.

EMI has also filed suit against a music-on-demand site called Favtape, which relies on the SeeqPod technology to deliver music to users.

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