By Mike Scarcella

Sept 4 (Reuters) - Lyrics catalog service Musixmatch and its private equity owner TPG TPG.O must face a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to hinder rival company LyricFind and charging inflated prices to Spotify 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 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.

TPG declined to comment on the decision, and Musixmatch had no immediate comment. Warner Chappell Music is not a defendant.

Musixmatch and TPG have denied any wrongdoing.

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

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)