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Estates of Robin Williams, George Carlin sue streaming service Pandora
Entertainment Feb 07, 2022
Robin Williams. | Photo courtesy of Eva Rinaldi/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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The estates of Robin Williams and George Carlin filed suit Monday in Los Angeles, alleging in federal court that the subscription-based streaming service Pandora has been broadcasting the late comedians’ recorded routines online without authorization or compensation.
The copyright infringement lawsuits filed in Los Angeles federal court — along with similar complaints from Andrew Dice Clay, Ron White and Bill Engvall — allege the material has been “exploited, performed, broadcast, and streamed” across Pandora’s platforms without license for years without payment of even “a fraction of a penny.”
Carlin died in 2008 and Williams in 2014. Engvall and White are known for their Blue Collar Comedy Tour performances, and Clay was a popular comedian in the 1980s.
A message seeking comment sent to a Pandora spokesman was not immediately answered.
Internet radio giant Sirius XM bought Pandora for $3.5 billion in 2018.
