Sony BMG Ordered to Begin Claims Process
Website Created to Fulfill Claims in Class Action Settlement
FEBRUARY 14, 2006
Effective immediately, www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com is active to fulfill claims in the class action settlement concerning certain music CDs sold by SONY BMG Music Entertainment. In announcing the rapid deployment of the settlement website, representatives of SONY BMG and the law firms of Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP and Kamber & Associates, LLC declared that they “were pleased to work together to provide class members a website through which they can receive the full benefits of the class action settlement quickly and efficiently.”
This web-based claims process was established by order of the Honorable Naomi Reice Buchwald of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in In re SONY BMG CD Technologies Litigation, Case No. 1:05-09676-NRB. On January 6, Judge Buchwald preliminarily approved the settlement of the class action lawsuits brought against SONY BMG over music CDs that contained “XCP” and “MediaMax” content protection software.
United States residents who purchased, received, came into possession of or otherwise used one or more MediaMax CDs and/or XCP CDs since August 1, 2003, are eligible for settlement benefits, including the following:
SONY BMG has, since November 2005, enabled persons with any of the 49 SONY BMG CD titles with “XCP” software to exchange their XCP CDs for a version of the same CD without any content protection software, and to receive free MP3 downloads of the music on the CD. Under the settlement, people who exchange their CDs, or who already have done so, also will now receive either $7.50 plus one free album download from a list of specified albums from the Connect, FYE, iTunes or Wal-Mart download services; or three free album downloads from that list.
Persons with any of the 53 SONY BMG CD titles with “MediaMax” Version 3.0 or Version 5.0 software, who submit proof of purchase of those CDs, are entitled under the settlement to receive free MP3 downloads of the music on the CDs. Purchasers of CDs with MediaMax Version 5.0 also may receive any one of the free album downloads from the download services listed above.
The settlement provides for other benefits, as well, including free utilities to uninstall or update the MediaMax and XCP software to remove all known security vulnerabilities. Details about the class action settlement and all of the settlement benefits are available at www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com.
