US judge: Grooveshark has committed large-scale copyright infringement

The US judge holds the streaming service Grooveshark responsible for illegally uploading thousands of songs. The music companies that sued the company behind the service have been found in their favor with the judge’s decision.

The judge holds Grooveshark and its founders responsible for illegally uploading 5977 songs, Reuters news agency reported. It concerns music by Eminem, Green Day and Madonna, among others. In addition, founder Joshua Greenberg is said to have asked his employees in 2007 to upload as much music as possible from outside the office, in order to promote the growth of the streaming service.

However, the music was uploaded without permission from the artists or their labels, the judge ruled. According to him, the copyright has therefore been deliberately infringed. The verdict in the case will be made in three weeks. Among the companies that have filed the case against Grooveshark are the music companies Warner Brothers Records and Arista. In recent years, Grooveshark has licensed other music companies, avoiding lawsuits, but there are still more cases pending against the service.

Grooveshark is a free streaming service that offers music. The company claims to have more than thirty million users. It bills itself as one of the largest music streaming services.