Spears label files Web piracy suit
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears' music label filed a copyright infringement suit on Thursday, accusing the popular Internet gossip site PerezHilton.com of posting unauthorized recordings from her forthcoming album.
The lawsuit came a day after Jive Records, part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Zomba Label Group, announced that it would release "Blackout" two weeks earlier than originally planned because some tracks had been leaked online.
"Blackout," Spears' first album of new material in four years, is now slated to reach stores October 30 in the United States and a day earlier internationally.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, accuses PerezHilton.com and its proprietor, Mario Lavandeira, of illegally obtaining and posting at least 10 completed songs and unfinished demos during the past three months.
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order barring further infringement by the site.
Peter Anderson, a lawyer for Zomba, said that some of the material in question was removed from the site by its Internet service provider in early September when the label first raised the issue, but some disputed content remained posted.
A lawyer for Lavandeira, Bryan Freedman, declined comment on the suit without seeing it but questioned why PerezHilton.com was being targeted when numerous Web sites were reported to be posting Spears' music.
"It seems to me that when you single out PerezHilton and put out a press release, that maybe what you're looking for is publicity," Freedman said, adding that Lavandeira "will be vigorously defended in any action that is filed against him."
Spears, 25, is not a party to the lawsuit, Zomba said.
The legal action comes as Spears sparred again in court with her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, over custody of their two young children. Spears lost custody of the boys, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to Federline last week.
On Thursday, she won permission from a Los Angeles judge to spend one night a week with her sons under the supervision of a court monitor. The judge agreed to modify his previous order after the pop singer showed up in court to make a personal plea to be allowed overnight visits with her sons.
Spears' troubled personal life has largely overshadowed her efforts to rejuvenate her recording career.
Last month, a comeback appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards was widely panned as an embarrassing flop, though Spears has scored success with release of "Gimme More," the first single from her upcoming album.
The song reached No. 1 on the digital songs charts earlier this month, posting 179,000 U.S. downloads during its first week. It also hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, based on radio airplay, downloads and Internet streaming.
Remaining at No. 3 for a second week, it ranks as the highest chart position for Spears since her debut single "... Baby One More Time" hit No. 1 in 1999.
The lawsuit was filed by Zomba Recording LLC, which owns the copyrights to Spears' music. Zomba Label Group is a unit of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture between Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG.
(Additional reporting by Robert MacMillan in New York)