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Sony cleared to buy EMI’s music publishing business, but must divest rights to 4 catalogues and artist works

By  |  April 19, 2012

The European Commission has approved Sony and Mubadala’s proposed acquisition of joint control over EMI’s music publishing business. Mubadala Development Company PJSC is an investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates. Approval of the acquisition requires divesting worldwide publishing rights to four “valuable and attractive” catalogues and the musical works of 12 contemporary authors. The catalogues are Virgin UK, Virgin Europe, Virgin US, and Famous Music UK. The authors include Robbie Williams, Lenny Kravitz, and Ben Harper.

The divestiture will resolve the Commission’s concerns with the transaction’s effect on the online licensing of copyrights, particularly given the parties’ market power regarding Anglo-American chart hits.

Full content: EC Press Release

 

Related content: The European Commission’s Reexamination of the SonyBMG Merger: A Precedent-Setting Attempt to Jump the Fence (Ben Van Rompuy, Institute for European Studies (VUB) & Caroline Pauwels, Free University of Brussels)

 

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