Legal and Policies
The MLC sues Spotify USA for unpaid royalties
Mumbai: The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has announced that it has filed a legal action against music streaming platform Spotify USA Inc. (Spotify) in the United States district court for the southern district of New York. The action seeks recovery of unpaid royalties due under the compulsory mechanical blanket license obtained by Spotify to reproduce and distribute musical works in the United States via its consumer music streaming platform.
The action states that, beginning in March 2024, Spotify asserted that its premium individual, duo and family subscription streaming plans were now bundled subscription offerings because those plans included access to audiobooks. Applying the rate formula applicable to bundled subscription offerings results in a reduction of the service provider revenue that Spotify reports, which results in an underpayment of royalties.
The MLC believes that Spotify’s position does not comply with applicable law and regulations. The MLC has statutory authority to address Spotify’s noncompliance with its royalty payment obligations. The MLC is taking legal action to enforce these obligations and ensure that Spotify pays all royalties due from its use of songs on premium plans.
“The MLC was designated by the Register of Copyrights to administer the blanket license and is the only entity with the statutory mandate to collect and distribute blanket license royalties and take legal action to enforce royalty payment obligations,” said The MLC’s CEO Kris Ahrend. “The MLC takes seriously its legal responsibility to take action on behalf of our Members when we believe usage reporting and royalty payments are materially incorrect.”
The MLC seeks corrected usage reporting and associated unpaid royalties for periods dating back to March 2024, along with an order requiring compliance going forward. A copy of the complaint can be found here.
Legal and Policies
‘The India deal is on…’: India tariffs cut to 10% from 18% after Trump’s SC defeat
In response, Trump rolls out blanket 10 per cent tariff, “effective almost immediately”
WASHINGTON: The White House said on Friday that US trading partners, including India, will face a flat 10 per cent tariff after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose sweeping import duties. Countries that reached tariff agreements with Washington, both before and after Trump’s original orders, will now be subject to the same 10 per cent levy, even if higher rates had previously been agreed.
The ruling invalidated Trump’s reliance on a 1977 law to levy sudden, country-specific tariffs, dealing a sharp blow to one of his signature economic policies. Within hours, the administration responded by certifying a new, across-the-board 10 per cent duty on imports into the United States.
In response, Trump announced an additional blanket 10 per cent tariff on all imports into the United States, signing a new order and saying on social media that it was “effective almost immediately”, after a year in which his administration had imposed varying duties to reward allies and punish rivals.
According to a White House factsheet, the new levy will take effect on 24 February and remain in force for 150 days. Exemptions will continue for sectors under separate investigations, including pharmaceuticals, and for goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
A White House official told AFP that the administration would seek ways to “implement more appropriate or pre-negotiated tariff rates” at a later stage, signalling that country-specific arrangements could return through alternative legal routes.
The move directly affects India, which earlier this month announced a framework for an interim trade agreement with the United States. That arrangement followed Trump’s decision to lift 25 per cent punitive tariffs linked to India’s purchases of Russian oil and cut reciprocal duties from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. Under the new regime, Indian exports to the US will instead face the flat 10 per cent rate.
Trump insisted the Supreme Court verdict would not disrupt the India-US trade deal. “Nothing changes,” he said, adding that India would continue to pay tariffs while the United States would not.
“They’ll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs. So the deal with India is they pay tariffs… It’s a fair deal now,” Trump said, describing the shift as a “flip” from past arrangements. “The India deal is on… all the deals are on—we’re just going to do it in a different way.”
Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled six to three that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorise a president to impose tariffs. Chief justice John Roberts said the law contained “no reference to tariffs or duties” and did not grant such “extraordinary power”.
Trump reacted angrily, accusing the court, without evidence, of foreign influence and claiming the ruling left him “more powerful”. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent later said the administration’s alternative approach would leave tariff revenues “virtually unchanged” in 2026.
The decision does not affect sector-specific duties on steel, aluminium and other goods, nor ongoing investigations that could lead to further levies. Still, it marks Trump’s most significant Supreme Court defeat since returning to the White House.
Markets reacted calmly, with Wall Street shares edging higher. Business groups welcomed the ruling, while uncertainty remains over whether companies will receive refunds for tariffs already paid. Analysts estimate potential refunds could reach $175 billion, though legal clarity is lacking.
