A Conway restaurant owner learned last month that playing music from a licensed artist without paying royalties can be costly.
Broadcast Music Inc. of New York received a default judgment of $30,000 plus another $7,000 for attorney fees against La Huerta Mexican Restaurant and its owner, Julio Nunez, for playing 12 copyrighted songs without paying for them, according to court records on a lawsuit filed last year in federal court in Little Rock.
BMI had the right to the songs that La Huerta played without permission in 2011, said the complaint, which was filed by BMI’s attorney, Amy Lee Stewart of the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock.
Among the songs played were “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About” and “When Did You Stop Loving Me?”
Nunez was served with the lawsuit, but didn’t bother to file an answer, which gave BMI an easy legal victory. But BMI would have preferred not to go into the court system at all, according to Leah Luddine, a BMI spokeswoman. Instead, BMI would rather work directly with business owners and get them licensed. Click here to read the full story from our partners at ArkansasBusiness.com.