The National Music Publishers’ Association, which represents music publishers, is suing XM Satellite Radio.¬† Their suit, filed in federal court in New York last Thursday, claims that XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. violates copyright laws by providing a service which lets users store and replay music on certain devices.

The music publishers argue that this constitutes an unlawful music download service that isn’t covered by the royalties XM pays to music publishers for broadcast rights.

The suit focuses on an XM service called “XM (plus) MP3,” which allows XM subscribers to store songs on portable players and play them back later. The songs remain on the device as long as the customer subscribes to XM.

“Filing a lawsuit was our last resort, but we felt that we had no choice,” said David Israelite, NMPA President and CEO. “We want new technologies to succeed, but it can’t be at the expense of the creators of music. All that we ask is that music publishers and songwriters be fairly compensated for their efforts.”

The music publishers’ lawsuit is similar to another filed against XM last year by a group representing major record label companies, the Recording Industry Association of America. That case is still pending.