COMEDIANS REACH SETTLEMENT IN COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT AGAINST PANDORA . (PHOTO).

Comedians reach settlement in copyright lawsuit against Pandora  

   A group of stand-up comedians, including Bill Engvall, Lewis Black, and the estates of George Carlin and Robin Williams, has reached a settlement in their consolidated copyright infringement lawsuit against Pandora Media over the streaming of their routines without licenses for the underlying written material.

The settlement was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court, though the terms were not disclosed. Pandora’s lead counsel, Paul Fakler, noted that the company did not pay for the literary rights to the comedians’ written jokes and will not acquire a license for them moving forward. Fakler described the resolution as ending a “multi-year hard-fought litigation” and sparing both sides further expense and distraction.

The lawsuit followed claims that Pandora streamed routines without proper rights to the written works behind the performances. A court-appointed special master had previously recommended summary judgment for Pandora, citing an implied license since the comedians were aware their routines were available on the platform for years without objection. The master also noted that some comedians actively encouraged Pandora to stream their routines and received royalties for the recordings, separate from royalties tied to the written works.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, who oversaw the proceedings, agreed that Pandora could potentially assert an implied license defense but did not opine on whether the special master correctly applied legal principles outside traditional work-for-hire cases. The judge directed the parties to hold settlement discussions before referring the matter back to the special master for further review.

Other comedians included in the consolidated lawsuits are Ron “Tater Salad” White, Andrew Dice Clay, Nick Di Paolo, and George Lopez. The mother of the late Bill Hicks was also a plaintiff in the case.