Dann
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A federal court has ordered the spending of leftover funds from a settlement with several CD retailers, and Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has given his state's share to seven orchestras.
Those orchestras will each receive more than $26,000 as a result of the 2002 settlement. Forty-three states and three territories alleged the companies violated several antitrust and unfair competition laws in their manufacturing and selling of CDs.
"I can think of no better way to carry out the letter and the spirit of the court's order than to support the permanent music education programs for children provided by these seven outstanding professional orchestras in Ohio," Dann said.
The defendants in the suit were Sony, Universal, BMG, Time Warner, Capitol Records, Transworld Entertainment Corp., Tower Records and Musicland Stores Corp. They were required to change their sales practices and compensate consumers who had purchased CDs between 1995-2000 up to $67.3 million, while providing$75 million in free CDs to schools and libraries.
The money, according to a court order from U.S. District Court in Maine, must be used to expand music education-related programs.
The Canton Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony and Youngstown Symphony received the funds.
Leftover money was given to elementary schools in Florida.