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Monday October 8, 2007
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 Here's a stunner: the BBC is reporting that in Scotland, an industry music group is bringing suit against a car-repair chain for playing personal radios at work. Their argument? Playing a radio (or iPod, using speakers) publicly constitutes a public performance and is therefore piracy if the appropriate royalties were not paid. The chain, Kwik-Fit, is thus liable for damages.
Yeah, that was our reaction, too. The group is the Performing Rights Society, which is an industry group representing the composers, songwriters and music publishers of the UK. That would make them the PRS the rough equivalent to the United States' RIAA.
Lord Emslie, the judge overseeing the case, is reported to have said: "The key point to note, it was said, was that the findings on each occasion were the same with music audibly 'blaring' from employee's radios in such circumstances that the defenders' [Kwik-Fit] local and central management could not have failed to be aware of what was going on."
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October 8, 2007 5:10 PM
What a PR boost this case is for the music industry. Certainly a great way to get the public on their side eh?