Warner Music Group sued Ray-Ban and Oakley owner Luxottica on October 9, 2026, in federal court in Manhattan, alleging its eyewear brands used at least 427 Warner songs and recordings in social media videos without a license. It is the latest in a run of Warner suits against consumer brands over TikTok and Instagram posts, after Crumbl, DSW and PacSun.
The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York by 23 Warner plaintiffs including Atlantic Music Group, Warner Records, Elektra, 300 Entertainment and Warner Chappell Music, names Luxottica Group S.p.A., Luxottica of America, Oakley, Costa Del Mar, Eye Buy Direct and Chapter 4 Corp., according to Music Business Worldwide. Warner's law firm, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, says the works include music by Miley Cyrus, Led Zeppelin, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Charli xcx and Fleetwood Mac, and that the brands reach 36.14 million followers. The complaint calls the music an “essential and inseparable component” of the videos. These are allegations; no response from Luxottica had been reported as of October 13, 2026.
Who has Warner sued over brand posts?
| Filed | Brand | Works alleged | Court | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 2025 | Crumbl | 159+ | D. Utah | Agreement in principle; case stayed May 26, 2026 |
| May 1, 2025 | DSW / Designer Brands | 200+ | S.D. Ohio | Warner ordered to produce its platform licensing deals, April 2026 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | PacSun | 290+ | California | No resolution reported |
| Oct 9, 2026 | Luxottica brands | 427+ | S.D.N.Y. | Just filed |
The DSW case is the one to watch. According to MBW, DSW countersued Universal, Sony and BMG in July 2025, arguing its posts were covered by the labels' own license agreements with the platforms. In April 2026, Law360 reported, an Ohio federal judge ordered several Warner companies to turn over their licensing agreements with social media companies. What those deals say could shape every suit in the table.
Why isn't a trending sound already licensed?
Because TikTok runs two libraries. The Commercial Music Library, which TikTok says holds more than 600,000 tracks, is for business accounts, and TikTok states that “all songs in the CML are pre-cleared for commercial use.” The General Music Library, where the chart hits and the trending sounds live, is different: TikTok's own business page says those songs “are not pre-cleared for commercial content” and “are not available for use by any brand or business.”
Instagram's terms, as quoted in the PacSun complaint, say “use of music for commercial or non-personal purposes in particular is prohibited.” So when a fan uses a hit in a dance clip, the platform's deal with the label covers it. When a brand, or an influencer the brand paid, uses the same sound to sell shoes, Warner's position is that nobody licensed that. The DSW complaint specifically targets paid influencer partnerships.
The sound is free for the fan and a lawsuit for the brand. Same clip, same song, different account.
What does $150,000 per work actually mean?
Under 17 U.S.C. 504(c), statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work, and a court may raise that to $150,000 per work if the infringement was willful. That is why every Warner complaint pleads willfulness: Warner says Luxottica ignored warnings from Instagram, Meta, TikTok and YouTube, and says PacSun kept posting after a February 13, 2024 cease and desist letter. Crumbl's settlement terms were not disclosed.
What can an independent artist do when a brand uses their song?
This is not only a major label fight. Independent artists who own their masters, the path traced in how independent artists go Gold, hold the same rights Warner is asserting. What they can do:
- Report the post through the platform's copyright tool and ask for it to come down.
- Ask the brand for a license fee after the fact.
- Ask your distributor or label which platform libraries your catalog sits in. If your song is in a commercial library, a business using it there may be licensed.
What they cannot do is the catch. Under 17 U.S.C. 412, statutory damages and attorney's fees are off the table for infringement that began before the work was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, unless registration came within three months of first publication. Without it, an artist must prove actual losses. The rights only pay if the paperwork is done.
What changes for creator campaigns?
Brand money increasingly flows through creators, the shift covered in our look at TikTok creator campaigns and in TikTok's fan hubs for rising artists. Four suits and 1,000+ alleged works say the rule is no longer theoretical: a brand post needs a commercial library track or a real license. The next signal comes from Ohio, where a judge will see what the platforms actually licensed.