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Two weeks ago, a federal judge in New York trimmed the lawsuit -- most consequentially, the royalty escalation claims were rejected as were claims that 19 should have received a share of settlements that Sony won against services facilitating piracy -- but the judge wouldn't disqualify the big claim that Sony's licensing agreements mischaracterize the distribution of music on streaming services as "sales" rather than "broadcasts" or "transmissions." Further, the foreign advertising deductions survived as well.

Because Sony failed to dismiss the lawsuit, it had to file an Answer, which it did on Tuesday with some quirkiness. For example, Sony denies that over 15 million copies of Kelly Clarkson's album Breakaway have been sold worldwide, and that "Since U Been Gone" has been certified "multi-platinum" by the RIAA.

Sony has its own math, and besides responding to each of 19's allegations, it's now using the legal tactic that can be best summed up as, "You say we underpaid you. Oh yeah? We actually overpaid you!"

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