Music royalties case against retailer dropped

A music rights organisation licensed to collect royalties for EMI, Sony and Warner among others has dropped a prosecution against a retailer in a case similar to one that a court threw out earlier this year.

Phonographic Performance Ireland (PPI), which collects royalties for Irish and international record labels, dropped a case against Mullingar hardware store, CP Smyth & Sons, which it had been pursuing for almost €6,350 in royalties and damages after reviewing the evidence.

The case is similar to one successfully defended earlier this year by Dublin footwear chain, Patrick Burke Shoes Ltd, where the District Court agreed that PPI's claim for royalties should be dismissed because a radio listened to by staff in one of its shops was not played for profit or a factor in bringing customers into the premises in the first place.

Radio listening
In the Smyth case, staff in the Mullingar store listened to the radio during quiet periods. PPI had invoiced the company dating back to 2002 and began District Court proceedings for a total €1,552.69 in unpaid royalties, plus damages earlier this year.

However, the company did not believe that it was obliged to pay the royalties and defended the action, hiring Dublin firm, Denis I Finn, whose lawyers, Michael Nuding and Jennifer Heffernan, acted for Patrick Bourke Shoes.

Mr Nuding provided PPI's lawyers with a formal notice of his client's intention to defend the case and pointed out that the case had the "same set of facts" as Patrick Bourke Shoes, where the Dublin District Court ruled that the defendant was not liable for royalties as there was no "communication to the public" of the music as it is defined in Irish copyright law.

Evidence reviewed
PPI's solicitors, Dún Laoghaire firm Sheehy Donnelly wrote to Denis I Finn on July 19th saying that they had reviewed the evidence and had decided not to proceed with the case against CP Smyth & Sons.

Irish copyright law is based on an EU directive.

In the Patrick Bourke Shoes case, Mr Nuding and Ms Heffernan relied on two European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings.

The first was an action by the PPI where the organisation succeeded in getting the court to overturn an exemption for hotels in Irish law covering music broadcasts to guests’ bedrooms.

The second was where the ECJ found against the Italian equivalent of the PPI which had pursued a dentist, Marco Del Corso of Turin, whose practice had a radio playing in its reception area.

The court agreed with the argument that the case was similar to the dentist in that only small numbers of people were hearing the music at any one time, it was not played for profit and was not instrumental in attracting people to the shop in the first place.