WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - ‌Elon Musk's X Corp sued 18 major music publishers and a ‌leading U.S. music industry trade association on Friday, alleging they conspired to ‌block competition and force the social media platform to purchase licenses for musical works at inflated rates.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Texas, accused the National Music Publishers’ Association, Sony ‍Music, Universal Music, Warner Chappell and other music ‍publishers of violating federal antitrust law ‌by refusing to negotiate individual licensing deals with X.