September 07, 2007

By By Susan Butler, N.Y.

Universal Music Group's UMG Recordings has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against BCD Music Group over the distribution of mixtapes.

The suit, filed Sept. 6 in the federal District Court in Los Angeles, claims that BCD distributes mixtapes that include unauthorized copies of UMG's copyrighted recordings by artists like Ludacris, Lloyd, Nelly, Young Buck, 50 Cent and Timbaland.

"BCD has built a significant business by capitalizing on the proliferation of unauthorized mixtapes," UMG said in a statement. "Despite our good-faith attempts to address these concerns with BCD, their use of our artists' music
- without permission and without any compensation to rights holders - has required us to file this complaint to protect our rights and those of our artists."

The move comes just one month after Universal Music Enterprises began releasing a series of mixtapes called "Lethal Squad Mixtapes."

BCD, based in the Houston suburb of Kingwood, referred a request for comment
to its Los Angeles attorneys, Larry Stein and Mark Passin with Dreier Stein & Kahan. They declined to comment on the pending litigation.

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