u're kidding

that's ridiculous, someone should be sued for being so stupid

C'mon brits!

Unless they have Lords on the other side of the pond (due to some recent acquisition? went there with Beckham?), these news must come from UK..... C'mon folks, are you taking pages from your colonies? That's not the Britain i've grown to admire....

What if......

Think they've missed a trick here. How bout catching hold of the arrogant yoofs in their pimped out hatchbacks that play music at extra loud volume as they wind they're way down our main streets?
The PRS gets their extra revenue and the yoof has to sell his overpowered stereo system to pay for the court charges keeping everybody happy!!

Public Airwaves.

I don't know how the law is set up for licensing of airwaves in Britain, but what are the terms of the licensing? They are public airwaves in the end are they not? If something is broadcast illegally then sure there should be hell to pay by the broadcaster. But receiving public radio waves on a device with the volume dial on high should not be illegal and should be thrown out. This case should be thrown out with prejudice.

Stop the country.....

... I want to get off!
Now if I understand this correctly, the problem is that several people were listening to music being played on one or two radios. This is apparently illegal. However, if there was one radio playing for each person in earshot, then they would have their own 'personal' radio and it would then become legal. Barking!!!

Radio companies

What is this copyright infringement bullshit disease spreading around these days??

Why don't the radio companies publically announce that a person cannot let other people listen to his or her radio?
Because then no one would listen to the friggin radio anymore...
Just imagine the millions of people sharing their car radio with their passengers!

Whats next? large yellow hazard stickers on radios informing you that you cannot share music that most countries automatically tax everyone for??

How much of an offence is this really? can I be sued retroactively for the year I left my radio player in the kitchen of a shared house??

Obviously this is a test case, the RIAA and similar creatures have done it with p2p. Now they try and have a go at other stuff but esentialyl the same principle. After all, if they win against Kwik-fit how many more businesses are up for the milking??

How about this for a business model:

"Oh s***, everyone is listneing to MTV & MP3, we are using a medium that can only go the way of the dodo. Lets make some money quick before we die."


Lets pretend for a moment that these nutballs are in fact correct. Lets pretend Kwik-fit should pay £200K what is the goal? to make radio unshare-able? I thought the main economic driving forces were (beyond forced taxation) advertisements?? what would be the point of having LESS people listen to every single radio?
It's not like radio/broadcasting companies are actually dependant on radio speaker sales.
So in essense they are just shooting themselves in the foot in the long run. But in the short while, if they can make a quick quid here they will make a few quickies in succession and fade away into the drawer of "services no one needs anymore"

Clearly the motive here is to make money, there is no real concern for copyright here.
Kwik-fit should sue them for causing their employees undue stress and thus labour costs as employees cannot work when stressed forcing them to take days off.

How about that for an equally stupid counter-suit??


*looks up to the sky*
I cannot wait until we are finally able to manipulate the genetic structure to the level people of such idiocy will only be allowed to box chickens, in the event a robot arm malfunctions.

ha!

Oh, that's so good to hear! Hereupon I shall report my neighbours to the police. They have not only disturbed my midday nap with loud music countless times, but have been maliciously breaking copyright laws.
So, when is the DMCA going to be pasted into UK's codex?

PRS has been around for a long time

Hi,

Back in 1960 I worked for a UK Radio and TV rental (hire) firm. One day our manager sent us around all our customers that were "commercial" i.e. running cafes and pubs, to check that they were not playing the radios / tvs in a public area, unless they had paid for the PRS licence. I think the warning had come from the PRS via our head office. We didn't want our sets confiscated as part of a court fine!

cheers

Patrick

radio

"why isn’t the PRS going after the radio companies?

They are the ones distributing music illegally…"

umm no, they are the ones paying thousands of pounds per month to PRS for the right to distribute the music.

Always been...

It's always been illegal to listen to the radio in an environment where the public or multiple employees can hear it.

Be it in a Charity shop, in your office, in the street.

If the company doesn't have a mechanical copyright license then it's a criminal offence.

What planet you been on Inquirer that you didn't know this?

This isn't something new

Don't know about the UK, US and other places. But in Czech republic this has not only been illegal (based in "international" treaties) for quite some time, but enforced in quite draconian way too. The collection societies inspectors listen in companies behind doors and if they get a hint of music playing there, they demand that you show you are licensed to "publicly broadcast". In some cases (our own office building) it was enough that firms just had radios in their offices. We were at a conference during the raid, but people from the other firms were so shocked and scared that they advised us to remove anything what could concievably be used for playing music out of the premises. Which we did. We now hum to ourselves when working but upon replexion we are "publicly" huming copyrighted tunes, so...

I feel most sorry...

...for those that pick up the radio on their teeth fillings. Best get the pliers out ready.

Oops

I wonder if I'll be sued because I had my window down at the McDonald's drive-thru when I picked up my order? I hope none of the workers there accidentally heard it. Damn, I had someone in the car with me too. Looks like it's time to call in some favors.

Sickening

This is absolute rubbish! I could see if the auto repair shops were running a piracy ring and selling illegal copies to the public, but just playing a radio in the shop that employees and customers could hear?

Isn't that what people have been doing with radios since their invention?

Sickening.

Radio stations pay PRS

Long long ago I used to run charity radio stations. In addition to setting up a studio and acquiring a broadcast license we were obliged to send fees to the PRS, PPL and MCPS - all rights organizations whose money-grubbing palms must be crossed with silver least they become enraged and brief their venomous litigators.

That fee we pay to the rights company is specifically to grant the right for us to 'perform' their members' music to all radio listeners in your transmitter's area. One reason you do not have to pay for the privalige of listening to Brittney, Rhianna when listening to the radio is that the radio-station has already compensated the pop-princess.

It seems to me that if the PRS are able to collect funds for people for listening to radio stations who have already paid PRS fees then they are double-dipping, effectively charging twice for every radio performance.

An error...

One commentator says:

"If the company doesn't have a mechanical copyright license then it's a criminal offence. "

That's not strictly true - there are many licenses and each type of license has a different beneficiary. For example MCPS is for the benfit of the music publisher. PRS is for the benefit of the Performers and in theory PPL is for the benefit of the composers.

In practice almost no money ends up anywhere other than the rights-collection companies or the huge-corporates who created them. Very few artists benefit from these organisations that allegedly represent their interests.

roflcopter

Next you will be sued for singing with headphones on

I Blame

Well I blame Marconi. just look at all the hassel he caused, with his invention.
Just as well he's is dead or else they would go after him.
Well, that statment is just as daft as the PRS,

What a load of old balls

Soon we'll be forced to pay for singing/ humming these precious songs in public! Am I breaching some form of copyright performing other people's music in a band that other people can hear? :s

This is getting rediculis

There needs to be laws made against sueing so freely, I work in a kitchen and we blast the radio so our co-workers and customers can here it so whose sueing us? No one.

File sharing is nothing compared to this problem

If it is illegal to play music in public without a license, this "piracy" problem is much larger than file sharing. For example, the r
ing tone market must be totally illegal. People need to be sure to switch to non-copyright sounds for their ring when there is any chance someone might overhear the phone ring in a public place.

That'll be an expensive incoming phone call for someone (I hope they at least answer it :-); given the recent court judgement, it will likely be a $10,000 fine for allowing a copyright ring tone to be potentially overheard in a public place.

What's the difference...

...between several people listening to one radio, and each person having their own radio? The end result is the same; each person hears the same music.

On a related note, could the PRS sue Kwik-Fit for giving away free personal radios, because those radios would allow the "performance" of the music? If not, then it shouldn't be able to sue for a single radio which is loud enough for other people to hear. The end result is no different, only the number of devices involved.

Shoot the Stupid Judge

Personally I thing that Judge that let the case go fwd should be shot.

The guy is clearly a f00ken idiot with nothing better to do. This place is going insane.

So by that argument...

...I could be hit with a fine for walking down the street with my little pocket radio.

I can't believe the judge let this go through.

What a bunch of morons

By far this is ranked up there with some of the most frivolous law suits I've seen to date. The RIAA as well as the PRS are an insult to the recording and song writing industry and are probably by now publicly some of the most hated entities of the current age. Instead of trying to find CREATIVE ways to push music forward and make it fair for everyone to enjoy music while maintaining their integrity and profits for their shareholders. They depend on frivolous lawsuits like this to boaster their inflated stock prices on the market while keeping share holders happy but screwing the listener.

If I was a judge in this case and I saw this come across my desk I would throw it out and dismiss it on the spot. I would invite the defendant and the prosecutors and everyone involved in the case to a special hearing and I would tell both of them that they are idiots they are wasting the courts time and tax payer money on lawsuits such as this. The lawyers in the case should be ashamed at taking on a case like this fully knowing its just out of greed and that I dont think any court should/lawyer should have to spend more then a split second with this case.

Suing the public for listening to a radio "too loud" absurd, PRS should find other venues to pursue.

An alternative

An alternative to the license http://www.firegigs.com/

PRS & Copyright for Biz

The Performing Rights Society (UK) is currently cracking down hard on UK businesses. The PRS represent the songwriters out there; and right now, with the advent of digital downloading and massive music piracy, those songwriters are suffering. The PRS intend to do something about it.

Do you use music while customers wait on hold? PRS are calling thousands of UK businesses every day to find out if they have proper licenses to use 'music on hold', as it's an easy and inexspensive way to catch fee dodgers. PRS are also sending hundreds of agents out into the streets to track down others like Quik-Fit in the above story.

Do you want to avoid a lot of these PRS headaches? Wouldn't it be so much easier and safer if you could just have your OWN music to play in your business premises. Professional quality music? Well, now you can! We are a company who specialise in making music for exactly that purpose! You simply pay us a one-time fee - as little as £50.00 per unit- and you have our permission to use our music forever! It's that simple.

Our music is used world-wide: on TV, radio, the Web and in business premises, from pubs to clubs, to shops and restaurants. There has never been a better or more important time than today when it comes to taking charge of your bussineses' music.

Come to www.copyfreetrax.com today and either download as many tracks as you wish, and burn them directly to CD - or download a complete CD image file and be up and running with your new copyright-free music in minutes! Sleep easier AND save money today.

www.copyfreetrax.com

Music For Your Media

Being sued for listening to the Radio. What are they going to come up with next.....

This is the most ridiculous thing I've heard and I'm shocked that Kwik Fit can be penalised for something so stupid.

Practically every garage, warehouse, retail shop, hair salons ect listen to the radio during work. What they going to do sue every business and every individual. If it illegal to listen to the radio while another person is present.

Then why not get rid of all radio stations in Britain, get rid of the source. This will solve the problem. Oh, it will also help make the people who work on the radio station unemployed and make the world a boring place.

Life is difficult, it's a real struggle just trying to support your families. With the cost of living rising & rising eg. petrol, gas ect. Can we add any more problem to the existing problems in this country.

Now I understand why people are moving abroad (Australia) for a better quality of life and the oppurtunity to work, buy a home have a family. Be able to support them and buy simple luxuries, birthday parties, holidays and still have enough left over from there salaries to save for the future.

Life is too short the men in power need to lighten up and step back and think about how petty they really are and how much they are making innocent people suffer.

But The Radio Stations Pay

Having read this article it should be remembered that the radios stations pay royalties each time they play a record/cd/piece of music. So they pay to play it and we have to pay to hear it ! This sounds like a good money spinner to me. We must also remember that the only artists/song writers/etc that receive any payment must be registered with the PRS and that requires a substantial annual payment so they have to pay in to get some if any out.

Roger 18/07/08