The copyright infringement lawsuit filed against X by Concord and others could run well into 2026. Photo Credit: Kelly Sikkema
Is 2026 shaping up to be a particularly jam-packed year for industry litigation? It certainly seems so, as the copyright complaint filed by Concord and other music publishers against X (formerly Twitter) might plod well past 2025.
This pertinent scheduling detail comes from the court’s initial case management order for the high-stakes dispute, which kicked off in June of 2023. Not long thereafter, the social platform, accused here of using a number of compositions without authorization both before and after selling to Elon Musk, pushed for dismissal.
The strategy was successful for X, as the court tossed part of the suit in March of 2024. Nevertheless, the case is still proceeding on contributory grounds and, given the mentioned order, could run through the remainder of 2024, the entirety of 2025, and a chunk of 2026.
While a date hasn’t been established for the trial (which is expected to span approximately 15 days), the current proposed timetable would require any amended pleadings to be filed by November 13th, 2024.
From there, discovery would wrap on July 17th, 2025, before all expert depositions concluded on or by January 15th, 2026. Then, dispositive motions and replies would assume center stage into April of 2026.
Stated differently, this schedule would keep the showdown alive into 2026, which, as noted, could bring trials and major developments in several especially significant industry cases.
Of course, it’s worth bearing in mind the potential for settlements to resolve some of these legal battles prior to trial. There’s also the possibility that they could take even longer to play out than suggested by their early schedules.
The infringement complaint filed against Meta by Epidemic Sound in 2022 was at one time expected to get a 2024 trial, for instance. Amid an evidently involved discovery process, though, the appropriate parties say they will just “substantially complete document production” by September’s end.
(Based on the information, the court has teed up another case management conference for October 17th.)
In any event, music publishers’ Anthropic infringement suit is tentatively set for a 2026 trial, as is the DOJ’s Live Nation antitrust complaint. Meanwhile, the major labels’ infringement litigation targeting Udio would proceed deep into 2025 under a schedule proposed earlier in August.
Separately, a federal judge recently opted against dismissing an action filed against Madonna, Justin Bieber, and an array of others over the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection. However, Altice USA quietly settled a case brought by BMG and more, whereas Beyoncé and Jay-Z beat a “Break My Soul” infringement suit.
