The music and motion picture industries have joined forces and filed suit in Washington against Music City and other websites, claiming that these websites allow the “unlawful exchange of protected material across the vast expanses of the Internet”. According to Plaintiffs, Defendants have created a network largely dedicated to the repeated and exploitative unauthorized distribution and reproduction of Plaintiffs’ protected works.

According to the complaint, "the infringing digital files available on and through Defendants' network include illegal copies of hit sound recordings as well as recently released motion pictures, including many that are still playing in theatres and are not yet legitimately available in any other media format…Defendants provide to their users at no cost, via online download, proprietary application software that allows their users to connect to and use a closed computer network, controlled by Defendants, to reproduce and distribute infringing digital files. The software was created by Defendant Consumer Empowerment BV, which offers the technology itself and has also licensed it to Defendants MusicCity and Grokster"