NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Peloton told members that, despite its claims of “ever-growing” content, the company had the authority to remove whatever it wanted, the company is arguing as it fights a class action lawsuit.
Peloton members filed suit months after the company in March 2019 removed roughly half of the class content available at that time because of a pending infringement lawsuit. They claimed Peloton failed to disclose the imminent removal of 57% of class content.
Peloton calls the “ever-growing” claims puffery that can’t be addressed by a lawsuit.
Peloton’s terms of service – to which all three plaintiffs admittedly agreed – clearly and repeatedly disclosed that Peloton reserved the right to modify and remove any class content ‘at any time, in its sole discretion,’” a March motion to dismiss says.
“Put differently, Plaintiffs seek to hold Peloton liable… for taking the very same actions that Peloton’s terms of service – which plaintiffs agreed to – affirmatively disclosed it could take.”
The motion also declares that Peloton revolutionized the fitness world and that its classes are in “a league of their own for many reasons: a motivating and technologically advanced, patented leaderboard; live and on-demand classes; and innovative playlists.”
Consumers agreed to Peloton’s terms of service when accessing the content library.
“Peloton necessarily includes these provisions in its terms of service because – just like other content providers such as Netflix, Hulu or Spotify – Peloton recognizes that it needs to regularly remove certain content from its library to ensure, among other things, that the library is fresh and manageable for members… and to ensure only licensed content appears,” the motion says.
Content that uses music for which a license has expired is removed.
The plaintiffs attorneys – from DiCello Levitt Gutzler in New York City and Keller Lenkner in Chicago – responded April 3, arguing their clients relied on Peloton’s “ever-growing” claims to provide a library that would justify spending thousands of dollars on an exercise bike.
“But, it turns out, Peloton was cutting corners,” the response says. “Peloton had failed to secure the media rights for the songs used in most of its classes.”
Eleven months before it slashed the library, the company knew or should have known that was going to happen, the plaintiffs say.
“But Peloton never disclosed to its customers Peloton’s lack of licensing or that it was on notice of alleged infringement regarding more than half the classes in its library.”
After an April 2018 cease and desist letter, Peloton removed almost 6,000 classes.
From Legal Newsline: Reach editor John O’Brien at john.obrien@therecordinc.com.