Sony Music Entertainment Inc. said Monday it has asked Tokyo High Court to rescind the Japanese antimonopoly regulator’s order against Sony Music and three other firms on mobile phone-ringtone music download services. The Fair Trade Commission in late July ordered the four music companies under the Antimonopoly Law to stop exclusively supplying their songs to a mobile ringtone provider jointly set up by the companies.
ed. note: How is that fair for other independent companies? If third-party companies are not allowed access to songs from three of these major players in Japan it cripples the market. Exclusivity has hurt Sony greatly in the past, and it is surprising they are fighting it so hard. One would assume that royalties and so forth from licensing deals could be very attractive to the artists..
The music and entertainment arm of Sony Corp. argues the FTC’s allegation that the music firms blocked new entrants in the business were groundless. The other three firms–Avex Network Inc., Victor Entertainment Inc., and the Universal Music Group–have launched similar suits. END
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Source: Jiji Press English News Service
