CMG Vending of Union, N.J., together with its principals, Howard Preschel of Bergenfield, N.J., and Laurence Preschel of New York City, N.Y., have settled the lawsuit filed against them in early 2017 by the Amusement and Music Owners Assn. of New York, Inc.
According to the operator group’s Special Counsel Kristin Grant, “This was an action for copyright infringement under the U.S. Copyright Act. This was triggered by CMG Vending’s and the Preschel’s unauthorized use of AMOA-NY’s copyright-protected proprietary location contract agreements in furtherance of Defendants’ business dealings.”
Danny Frank, AMOA-NY executive director said: “This litigation was always about ‘compliance.’ This is the fourth occasion where AMOA-NY has filed litigation against parties who were violating its copyrighted ‘Installment & Security Agreement.’ In this latest case, the Preschels have recognized the advantage of paying out a five-figure settlement so CMG Vending is able to use the AMOA-NY documents going forward. As part of this settlement, CMG and the Preschel’s have also returned to AMOA-NY as members.”
Frank indicated that any non-member parties who get discovered using AMOA-NY’s documents without authorization and making proper compensation will be sued to the fullest extent of the law. “This is only fair to our members who have paid dues to receive our organization’s benefits,” he continued. The lawsuit against CMG and the Preschel’s had been filed after AMOA-NY uncovered two of its agreements in use after their membership had expired.