Musicians Sue MP3.com for Copyright Violation

A group of songwriters has filed a federal copyright-infringement lawsuit seeking $40.5 million in damages against beleaguered online music firm MP3.com Inc.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, says the company violated copyright laws by creating an unauthorized database of 80,000 albums, including an estimated 270 songs written by plaintiffs Randy Newman, Tom Waits and sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson of rock band Heart.

The San Diego-based start-up runs a service that allows users to store songs from their personal CD collections online. It already has paid more than $100 million in out-of-court settlements to four major record conglomerates and to music publishers, all of whom sued saying the database infringed their copyrights.

A lawyer for Newman, Waits and the Wilsons said the songwriters administer their own music licensing and were not compensated in MP3.com’s earlier settlement with publishers. An MP3.com spokesman said the company had no comment because it had not seen the lawsuit.