Intellectual Property Law

Entertainment Outlets ?Face the Music?

By IBLS Editor

Supriyo Mukherjee, the Eastern Regional Head of Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), which is the licensing arm of the Indian Music Industry (IMI), has sought criminal action for copyright violations against ten business organizations. The music industry loses over Rs 50 lakh (US $ 127,000) of revenue every month through copyright infringement. These unscrupulous businesses, whilst offering sensation-driving music and entertainment, have not paid the necessary copyright music license fees and therefore are in breach of copyright law.

Ten entertainment outlets ? five hotels, two shopping malls, a discotheque, a pub and a music shop ? had avoided paying the subscribed fee to the PPL, even after continual reminders and so steps had to be taken through Calcutta High Court to hold them accountable for their actions or, more appropriately, inaction.

More than 130 members make up the PPL, which was registered with the Registrar of Copyrights in 1996, and these include HMV, Sony, Venus and BMG Crescendo. It was formed when several music companies came together out of IMI. Its main role is to issue licenses to those who play music at public events and collect royalties on behalf of the music industry.

Music played by a commercial establishment without payment of the mandatory license fee is an infringement of copyright under Section 51 of the Copyright Act. It is also considered an offence under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973. Therefore, failure to pay the requisite fee could incur up to three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2 lakh (US $5000).

Interestingly enough, there is a total of nearly 60 per cent of businesses playing copyrighted music without paying the fee, with many of them recently being slapped with notices to pay the required license fees. Moreover, defaulters amount to approximately 200 in the city alone. The action taken against those 10 businesses that defaulted on license fees, Mukherjee hopes, will be a warning to other event organizers who also for their various reasons have not paid the required fee.

Full post as published by IBLS Internet Law Blog on December 24, 2007 (boomark / email).