BMI Files 4 Claims of Willful Infringement vs. Va. Brewery-Restaurant

BMI has reached out to Solace Outpost, a brewery-restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia, and its owner Ian Hilton more than 30 times since January 2022 to educate them about their obligations under the Copyright Act to buy a license for the public performance of musical compositions in the BMI repertoire, yet they continue to commit further acts of copyright infringment, alleged BMI and six music publishers in a complaint Friday (docket 1:23-cv-01572) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria. Included in BMI’s correspondence were cease and desist letters giving the defendants “formal notice that they must immediately cease all use of BMI-licensed music” in the establishment, said the complaint. It alleges four claims of willful copyright infringement, based on the unauthorized public performance of musical compositions from the BMI repertoire. “The specific acts of copyright infringement,” plus the defendants’ “entire course of conduct,” are causing the plaintiffs “great and incalculable damage,” it said. Unless the court restrains the defendants from committing further acts of copyright infringement, the plaintiffs “will suffer irreparable injury for which they have no adequate remedy at law,” it said.