Despite ongoing copyright infringment lawsuits against the music streaming app Grooveshark, Google have reintstated it on their app store for Android smartphones after removing it over a year ago.
Google decided to reinstate Grooveshark following a recent decision by a New York state judge in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Universal Music. The suit argued that not responding to "takedown" notices from record companies was enough to insulate the service from infringement claims, when it came to certain older recordings. Judge Barbara Kapnick ruled on the question in favour Grooveshark in July 2012.
Grooveshark and it's parent company, Escape Media Inc., are being sued by three of the big four; Universal, Sony and Warners who accuse the service of infringing copyright. Grooveshark allows users listen to copies of songs that have been uploaded by other users, regardless of whether Grooveshark has a license to offer that particular song. These suits are ongoing as Grooveshark maintain they have observed "takedown notices" (removal of songs infringing copyright) from record companies.
Apple who also offered the Grooveshark app for for iPhones and other devices removed it from their store around eight months prior to Google and have not reinstated the app.
How will Universal respond to Google over this one? We'll keep you posted.
