Image courtesy of Spotify
Music streaming heavyweight, Spotify, has asked a Californian judge to prevent a lawsuit the company is facing from David Lowery from being heard as a class action lawsuit, and has also asked for the case to be dismissed entirely because of a lack of jurisdiction.Spotify responded to a class action lawsuit brought against the company at the end of last year by Lowery, frontman of the band Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. Lowery's suit was filed on December 28 in a California court, and alleged that Spotify knowingly distributed copyrighted works without proper licensing. Lowery is seeking $150 million in damages.One of Spotify's motions is an attempt to prevent the case from being treated as a class action lawsuit, stating in the court documents that the case is a "fatally flawed candidate" for such a designation. The company argued that Lowery's case does not fit the definition of a class action lawsuit. In support of their claim, Spotify cited the 2013 ruling in "Football Association Premier League v. YouTube", which stated that "copyright claims are poor candidates for class-action treatment." They also accused Lowery's suit of being a "Frankenstein monster posing as a class action," which as a result cannot "plead class-wide irreparable harm."Spotify has also filed a motion attempting to get Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell to dismiss the case entirely, or transfer it to a federal court in New York. Their claim is that "as a Delaware corporation headquartered in New York … [Spotify] is not 'at home' in California." Because most of their relevant business is in southern New York, they argue, it should be moved there "'for the convenience of parties and witnesses,' and 'in the interest of justice.'"In an interview with Pitchfork, the lead partner of Michelman & Robinson, the law firm representing David Lowery, said: "We are very confident that this is just a delay tactic and we are going to get to the merits."Spotify did not respond to THUMP's request for comment.