Phonographic Performance Ltd Lost Landmark Music Licence Battle
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010The trade has won a landmark legal skirmish against the Phongraphic Performance Limited that would save pubs millions of pounds in music licensing. The UK Lager and Boozer organisation ( BBPA ) and the British Hospitality organisation ( BHA ) appealed against the call of the Copyright Tribunal on the value of charges that need to be paid for background music. But the main question remains how to licence music and estimate which licence is appropriate? The industry guesstimates that in consequence of the costs increase implemented in Jan 2005, the average bar and restaurant has paid an extra £500-£600 during the past 4 years a total of at least £12m. PPL, which sets, administers and collects the costs had tried to restrict the Copyright Tribunal’s jurisdiction to send out music only and have another Tribunal for non-broadcast music.
But Mr Justice Kitchen asserted this would be “inconvenient, unwieldy, pricey, and involve a waste of legal and public resources”.
He also ruled it to be a misinterpretation of the law. The court ruled that the Copyright Tribunal does have powers under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to set the value of both broadcast and non-broadcast music in one price list. This is a victory for common-sense in an highly complicated area of law,” declared BBPA Manager Rob Hayward. “We now anticipate returning to the Copyright Tribunal, where we shall do our best to secure a decrease in the costs which may give desirable monetary relief to those licensees who are presently paying PPL well too much for music in their pubs. BHA Manager Bob Cotton, added : We are more than pleased to have once been in a position to deliver this result for our members, which raises the genuine prospect of reverting the charges for the playing of background music to a more reasonable and tolerable level..