A time-honored bar tradition — singing loudly and badly — has landed a local pub in a lawsuit.
The Bull & Bear Pub in Syracuse’s Hanover Square is being sued for holding karaoke events without a license. The American Society of Compos-ers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) initiated the suit, which was filed June 29 in Syracuse Federal District Court by Hancock & Estabrook LLP, which is acting as legal counsel in the matter.
ASCAP, a membership association of more than 240,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers, files hundreds of lawsuits similar to the one against the Bull & Bear every year, says Richard Reimer, in-house counsel for the society. The group’s members hold the copyrights on their songs, and on their behalf ASCAP licenses those rights to bars, restaurants, and anywhere else the music is performed publicly.
A part of the society’s work is finding locations that don’t have licenses and signing them up, Reimer explains.
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