Department store faces music in copyright case (China Daily) Updated: 2004-02-04 23:06
Proceedings in China's first-ever lawsuit over copyright infringement for
background music allegedly being played for profit-making purposes began
Wednesday in a Beijing court.
Chang'an Department Store, a major retail outlet in the capital, has been
charged for the infringement by the Music Copyright Society of China.
The lawsuit court session started yesterday at the Beijing No 1 Intermediate
People's Court. This case, the first of its kind since the country's Copyright
Law was amended in 2001, is drawing attention nationwide.
In its indictment, the society is seeking a compensation of 228,100 yuan
(US$27,600) for the accused store's use of background music, whose copyright is
managed by the society, without being authorized and paying fees. No judgment
was made yesterday in the case, and an announcement for the next session is yet
to be made public.
The Music Copyright Society of China is the country's only officially
recognized organization for music copyright administration.
Background music played at department stores or hotels -- also called `muzak'
-- received legal protection in 2001 under revisions to the Copyright Law. The
law states that both live and mechanical performances enjoy the same rights.
While in the original version of the law, which was adopted in 1990, the
rights in performance were only related with live performances -- displaying
musical works through the performances of the musicians or technical equipment.
At yesterday's hearing, the plaintiffs in the case said they had recorded
three hours worth of background music for the store in September of last year as
evidence. The music was broadcast during the store's business hours.
"Only in three hours, 21 songs were played whose rights had been entrusted to
the society for administrative purposes,'' Wang Bin, the lawyer representing the
plaintiff said yesterday.
Wang added that this is only a small part of the works played by the accused
without authorization.
The association has now administered copyrights for over 14 million music
works by 2,500 members.
"But the evidence could fully support the fact that the accused has been
using the music works illegally for a rather long time, in large amounts, with
the purpose of making profits,'' he said.
The evidence has been preserved and notarized, according to the lawyer.
The society issued a lawyer's letter to the store last April, pointing out
that the store is violating the plaintiff's rights.
"But the accused paid no heed to our legal appeal and continued as before,''
Wang said.
Up to now, 23 department stores in Beijing, including the Oriental Plaza and
the Pacific Department Store, have paid fees to the society for using the songs
under their administration, according to sources.
Department stores with various amount of areas are charged with different
standards by the society. The usual fee is 254 fen (31 US cents) per square
metre per year for a department store of 10,000-20,000 square metres to use the
music, the society said.
The plaintiffs expressed their willingness to accept the conciliation
initiated by the court, but Chang'an Department Store refused the settlement
yesterday.
"The society is only a non-governmental organization, not a governmental
authority, so it has no right to collect mandatory fees,'' Zhang Guoying,
general manager of the store said yesterday.
Zhang believed that how to charge the fees should be decided by the State
Council. And there is no legal proof now on the issue.
"Meanwhile, the broadcasting of background music in our store is aimed at
creating a good shopping environment for consumers, but not to make profits,''
she said.
"In fact, the copyright owners of the songs benefit from this as their works
were made more widely know through us.''
She also denied the existence of the plaintiff's letter, saying "we have
never had any form of communications with the plaintiff before the court
session.''
Zhang also said that most of the stores in Beijing which paid fees for
background music are foreign ones, as "State-owned units still need some time to
get familiar with this.''
After ceasing playing of the background music last month, sales have not been
influenced at all, she added.
Charges over background music performances have been given more and more
importance in recent years.
In November of last year. a Beijing-based Karaoke entertainment hall was
ordered by the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court to pay 56,000 yuan
(US$6,760) to a Hong Kong-based entertainment company for using the company's
music videos without paying for them.
It was reported that fees worth a total of 18 million yuan (US$2.2 million)
were collected in 2002 on the Chinese mainland for background music
broadcasts.
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