Pharrell Williams' Lawyer Threatens YouTube With $1 Billion Legal Fight Over Music Rights

Pharrell Williams' lawyer doesn't want his clients' music on YouTube, and he's willing to pick a billion-dollar fight over it.

Irving Azoff, founder of the licensing management firm Global Music Rights, claims that Google's video behemoth doesn't have legal rights to play some 20,000 songs by artists he represents, including Williams, The Eagles and the late John Lennon, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Azoff has ordered YouTube to pull the videos down, or else face a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit.

Azoff's complaint comes as Google was quietly rolling out its new Music Key service, which the search giant hopes will compete with streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify.

"The trampling of writers' rights in the digital marketplace without any regard to their contribution to the creative process will no longer be tolerated," Azoff told THR last month.

Google, though, appears ready to duke it out in court.

In a Dec. 4 letter, posted on THR, Google lawyer David Kramer called Azoff's position "misguided" and claimed the YouTube was attempting to skirt the proper legal channels for handling takedown requests.

"YouTube would be happy to work with GMR, but empty threats will not advance GMR's cause or standing in that relationship," Kramer said.

Azoff told THR.com his group was going after Google, and not Pandora or Spotify, because he felt the Mountain View, Calif.-based company was trying to bigfoot him.

"They are the ones that have been least cooperative and the company our clients feel are the worst offenders," Azoff told the THR.com "It's also their attitude."

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