CINCINNATI -- BMI, the performing rights organization, said Wednesday it will file a lawsuit against Riverfront Stadium and the Cincinnati Bengals because neither had applied for a license to broadcast its music.
BMI lawyer Mary Weber in New York said the suit will be filed Thuesday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati and will cite seven counts of music copyright infringements including Otis Redding's 'Respect,' Isaac Hayes' 'Theme From Shaft' and Domingo Samudio's 'Wooly Bully.'
A spokeswoman for the Bengals said business manager Bill Connelly, the one person who could comment on the suit, was unavailable until next week.
'BMI's standard operating procedure is to explain copyright responsibilities to the music user, demonstrate the need for a blanket music license, and seek agreement before considering legal action,' said Tom Annastas, BMI's vice president for licensing.
'Our licensing executive in Ohio was diligent in trying to work with the Bengal organization to secure the license. The lack of attention to our requests resulted in this suit.'
Weber said BMI, or Broadcast Music Inc., previously had filed a similar lawsuit against the Dallas Cowboys. She said lawyers in that suit were in the discussion stages of a settlement, though nothing had been reached yet.
No other suits were planned, she told United Press International.
Officials of BMI said that under the U.S. copyright law, songwriters, composers and publishers are entitled to compensation when their works are performed in public. That includes on a radio or TV broadcasts, as well as recorded or live performances in nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, retail and department stores.
BMI said it offers businesses legal access to its musical repertory of 2 million songs through music performance agreements. The corporation represents more than 120,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in all areas of music.
