U.K.'s PRS wins Buma case

Court blocks Pan-European license




LONDON -- U.K. collecting society the Performing Right Society has a won a court font to forbid its Dutch equivalent, Buma, from issuance an unauthorized pan-European licence for online rights.

Buma proclaimed on July 19 that it had issued such a license to online music provider Beatport, claiming it covered worldwide repertory including that controlled by PRS. However, the Dutch society is not authorised to include PRS repertory outside the Netherlands in any multiterritory license.

PRS filed a cause with a Dutch court and in a ruling Monday, the judge ordered Buma to refrain from granting licenses that offered the manipulation of PRS artists' work outside of the Netherlands. He base Buma offered "no convincing arguments" of its case.

"We are discomfited that Buma decided to act in the elbow room it did but pleased that the judge has upheld the contract footing between PRS and Buma, confirming that no society can event licenses without the verbalize agreement of the early," Karen Buse, managing director of international for the MCPS-PRS Alliance, said in a statement.

"PRS welcomes fair and levelheaded competition for members crossways Europe and we look forward to working with all ingathering societies in the next to provide the best possible service to songwriters and music publishers.

"We shall also cover to mesh our own successful and legal Pan-European licensing dodge; making it easy and efficient for online medicine services crosswise Europe to access the music they need to support and grow their businesses."

The verdict follows a European Commission ruling last month, which stated that CISAC, the umbrella trade group for performing right societies, moldiness remove all obstacles clogging the pan-European licensing system after losing its struggle with European regulators.

The Brussels-based commission described its opinion as "an antitrust decision prohibiting societies from restricting competition," and called for the surcease of territorial restrictions that prevent a collecting society from offering licenses to commercial users outside their domestic territory.

In response, CISAC said the ruling will lead to "catastrophic fragmentation of repertoire."