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Case 4:17-cv-05343-YGR Document 170 Filed 04/10/20 Page 1 of 37 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 GREG KIHN, ET AL., CASE NO. 17-cv-05343-YGR a 12 Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION; GRANTING IN PART AND 13 vs. DENYING IN PART MOTIONS TO SEAL 14 BILL GRAHAM ARCHIVES, LLC, ET AL., Dkt. No. 107, 109, 120, 126, 128, 145, 167 15 Defendants. 16 This case arises from defendants’ exploitation of audio and video recordings of live 17 musical performances, and the musical compositions performed therein, from the 1950s to the United States District Court Northern District of Californi Northern District of 18 1990s. Plaintiffs Greg Kihn and Rye Boy Music, LLC (Kihn’s music publisher) allege that 19 defendants Bill Graham Archives, LLC dba Wolfgang’s Vault; Norton, LLC; and William Sagan 20 distributed and sold in thousands of recordings acquired from a dozen private collections— 21 recordings that captured live performances spanning several decades, made by concert producers 22 and sound engineers without the performers’ authorization. Plaintiffs allege that the conduct 23 began in 2006 when defendants began offering digital downloads or on-demand streaming on two 24 websites: (1) wolfgangs.com, which offers audio recordings; and (2) concertvault.com, which 25 offers both audio and audiovisual recordings for on-demand streaming (hereinafter, “Websites”).1 26 27 1 Defendants also launched a “Music Vault” YouTube channel in early 2014, offering 28 audiovisual recordings from the collections at issue for on-demand streaming.
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