Tuesday, August 25, 2026
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Sony Sues Kroger for Allegedly Using Music in Advertising Videos Without Paying for License
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Sony Music Entertainment and related entities have sued the Kroger Co. and its various subsidiaries, including the Compton-based Ralphs Grocery Company, for alleging using copyrighted songs belonging to the plaintiff in advertising videos without purchasing a license.
Its copyright infringement action was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Signing the complaint was attorney Christina H. Kroll of the Century City firm of Proskauer Rose LLP.
The pleading identifies Sony as “home to some of the world’s most distinguished record labels, including Columbia Records, RCA Records, Sony Music Nashville, Arista Records, Ultra Records, and Epic Records, through which Sony Music contracts with world-class recording artists.”
Vast Operations
It notes that Ralphs “operates approximately 182 retail grocery stores across California under the Ralphs banner, also does business as Food 4 Less, and maintains major California distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing facilities, including the Compton Central Facilities Complex and a bakery facility in La Habra, California.”
The complaint says that Kroger “directly markets and sells its Private Selection, Simple Truth, Kroger Brand, and other private-label product lines advertised in the Videos to California consumers through California retail stores operated by its wholly-owned subsidiaries—including Ralphs Grocery Company and Food 4 Less of California, Inc.”
It asserts that Kroger and the subsidiaries boost “the appeal and reach of this social media marketing through willful and repeated infringement of popular and valuable sound recordings owned or controlled by Sony Music.”
Willful Infringement Alleged
The defendants “know licenses are required for this use of Sony Music Recordings,” it avers, as evidenced by the fact that “Kroger Co. has previously entered into numerous licenses with Sony Music to include Sony Music Recordings within its advertisements, and the advertisements of its subsidiaries, explicitly including terms for use on the internet and social media.”
The example is provided of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic?” being posted on the Ralph’s Facebook account on Nov. 27, 2020, pursuant to a license that expired on Dec. 31 of that year.
“That Video was, and as recently as August 17, 2026, remained, viewable on demand by any consumer with an internet-connected device in California,” the pleading says.
Sony seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, actual damages, statutory damages “up to the amount of $150,000 per infringed work,” an accounting, attorney fees, and pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.
The case is Sony Music Entertainment v. The Kroger Co., 2:26cv9358.
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