backOn January 28, 2026, King & Spalding secured a significant victory for our client Pandora Media, when it settled a series of closely-watched lawsuits challenging Pandora’s practices for licensing stand-up comedy on favorable terms.
Between February and August of 2022, nine different comedians or their estates filed lawsuits against Pandora in federal court in the Central District of California alleging that, while Pandora had properly licensed their stand-up comedy recordings, it failed to secure a license to perform and distribute the underlying written comedy routines embodied in those recordings. As a result, the plaintiffs asserted copyright infringement claims against Pandora and collectively sought nearly $130 million in damages.
These lawsuits were part of a larger effort, led by two recently created spoken-word licensing collectives, to upend decades of licensing practices in the stand-up comedy industry and force all entities that make stand-up comedy available—including streaming services, broadcasters, cable channels, and comedy clubs—to take an additional separate license just covering the comedy routines.
In July of last year, Special Master Suzanne Segal, who was appointed by district court judge Marc Scarsi to provide a report and recommendation on the disposition of the competing summary judgment motions, concluded that Pandora should prevail on three of its defenses—implied license, express license, and equitable estoppel—any one of which would end the case. After receiving the special master’s recommendation, Judge Scarsi rejected Plaintiffs’ argument that Special Master Segal used an incorrect legal standard for implied license and ordered the parties to attend a settlement conference with Magistrate Judge Maria Audero. After two full conference days, the parties were able to reach an amicable resolution. While the terms of the settlement are confidential, it can be disclosed that Pandora did not take any license for the literary work rights at issue in the litigations or make any payments for those rights in connection with the settlement.
The result is that Pandora’s long-standing approach to licensing stand-up comedy has been affirmed and Pandora can continue its mutually beneficial relationship with comedians, using the same licensing practices that have long been standard in the stand-up comedy industry.
Pandora is represented by King & Spalding lawyers Paul Fakler and Jacob Ebin.