XM Settles With Warner Over Inno

By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 12/21/2007

New York – Warner Music Group and XM Satellite Radio have settled a lawsuit brought by the recording company against XM over the Pioneer Inno portable audio player and its advanced recording capabilities.

No terms of the multi-year agreement were disclosed.

Warner joins Universal Music Group, which announced a similar agreement with XM earlier this week. Both were part of a lawsuit brought by the four major record companies in May. The remaining labels have not yet settled. The suit claimed XM turned its radio service into a music download service because of the advanced recording capabilities of the Pioneer Inno.

XM stated earlier in the weeks that it is in talks with the other record companies and said, “We look forward to continuing our discussions with the other music companies in hopes of arriving at a resolution that benefits everyone, especially consumers,” according to a spokesman.

The original lawsuit centered on the Pioneer Inno’s ability to record blocks of XM programming like a DVR, and then let users select individual songs to keep in memory. The record companies sought an injunction preventing XM from allowing songs to be singled out from within a recorded block and also sought damages. It did not seek to stop sales of the Inno.