Sept 4 (Reuters) - Lyrics catalog service Musixmatch and

its private equity owner TPG must face a lawsuit

accusing them of conspiring to hinder rival company LyricFind

and charging inflated prices to Spotify ( SPOT ) and other music

streaming services, a U.S. judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco

on Wednesday ruled that LyricFind had presented enough

information for now to pursue most of its lawsuit against

Italy-based Musixmatch and TPG.

LyricFind, which is based in Canada, and Musixmatch compete

with each other globally to provide music lyric services to

digital streaming services including Amazon ( AMZN ) and YouTube Music.

LyricFind last year accused Musixmatch of violating U.S.

antitrust law through an exclusive agreement with music

publisher Warner Chappell Music that LyricFind said cut off its

ability to provide lyric services for Warner's catalog of music.

Musixmatch in a statement called the judge's order a

"preliminary ruling in the legal process based solely on

LyricFind's allegations" and said it was confident it would

prevail in the case.

TPG declined to comment on the decision. Musixmatch and TPG

have denied any wrongdoing. Warner Chappell Music is not a

defendant.

Kellie Lerner, an attorney for LyricFind, in a statement

called the judge's ruling a "strong rebuke of the defendants'

effort to paint our case as 'meritless.'"

The lawsuit said Musixmatch and Texas-based TPG concocted a

"buy-or-bury" scheme in 2023 to knock LyricFind and others from

the market. LyricFind said TPG saw it as a competitive threat

and so tried to purchase the company.

In asking Corley to dismiss the lawsuit, Musixmatch said

Warner Chappell Music made a lawful decision to end its

relationship with LyricFind. Musixmatch in a court filing said

"the antitrust laws protect competition, not particular

competitors."

TPG told the court that the company as an investment firm

should not be dragged into LyricFind's lawsuit. It defended its

actions as "independent and lawful business behavior."

But Corley said LyricFind had shown at this stage in the

case that TPG had coordinated with Musixmatch and helped further

the allegedly anticompetitive conduct.

The judge dismissed some claims from the lawsuit, including

an allegation that TPG and Musixmatch had broken a contract by

disclosing LyricFind's confidential information to unauthorized

third parties.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 22.

The case is LyricFind Inc v. Musixmatch S.p.A and TPG Global

LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

3:25-cv-02265-JSC.

For plaintiff: Kellie Lerner of Shinder Cantor Lerner, Brian

Caplan of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt and David Brownstein of

Farmer Brownstein Jaeger Goldstein Klein & Siegel

For Musixmatch: Matthew McGinnis, Rocky Tsai and David Young

of Ropes & Gray

For TPG: Edward Hassi, Michael Schaper and Josh Cohen of

Debevoise & Plimpton