LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The estates of Robin Williams and George Carlin filed suit Monday in Los Angeles, alleging in federal court that the subscription-based streaming service Pandora has been broadcasting the late comedians' recorded routines online without authorization or compensation.
The copyright infringement lawsuits filed in Los Angeles federal court — along with similar complaints from Andrew Dice Clay, Ron White and Bill Engvall — allege the material has been "exploited, performed, broadcast, and streamed" across Pandora's platforms without license for years without payment of even "a fraction of a penny."
The complaints allege that each plaintiff is entitled to the “maximum amount of statutory damages,” which is $150,000 per copyrighted work for each act of copyright infringement, according to Variety. The news outlet reported that there are five lawsuits seeking a total of $41.55 million from Pandora as the streaming service "knew or should have known" the harm it was causing.
Carlin died in 2008 and Williams in 2014. Engvall and White are known for their Blue Collar Comedy Tour performances, and Clay was a popular comedian in the 1980s.
A message seeking comment sent to a Pandora spokesman was not immediately answered.
Internet radio giant Sirius XM bought Pandora for $3.5 billion in 2018.
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