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PPL lose appeal in public performance tribunal ruling
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 15 February 2010
Recording rights body PPL has lost its appeal over that previously reported Copyright Tribunal ruling that found in favour of the UK pub industry in a long running dispute over what bars, restaurants, shops and their like should pay for the privilege of playing records on their premises, and the way such payments should be structured.
As previously reported, PPL has been in disagreement with the British Beer And Pub Association and the British Hospitality Association about such royalties for years. The dispute went to Copyright Tribunal last year, and the copyright judges basically found in the pub sector’s favour. PPL announced its intent to appeal almost straight away, and both sides re-presented their arguments to appeal judges last month. The appeal judges gave their judgment last week, upholding the original Tribunal’s ruling.
Needless to say PPL wasn’t overly impressed with the judgement. A spokesman for the collecting society told reporters: “On the appeal, the judge was limited to considering whether the Copyright Tribunal had erred in law, not whether the decision was one he would have made based on the evidence. Naturally the company is extremely disappointed that the judge found there was no error of law although he identified some problems with the decision of the Tribunal. This leaves PPL with tariffs that it believes substantially undervalue the rights of its performer and record company members”.
