August 05, 2010
A Northamptonshire music distribution company which specialises in 1980s soul albums has been fined £16,000 after it was found guilty of breaching copyright and trademark licenses.
In 2007, distributor Funky Town Grooves was warned by the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI), representing major record labels and their artists, that it did not possess the necessary license to trade certain albums within its store and online.
After ignoring repeated warnings, Funky Town Groves was raided by the Trading Standards Agency in 2008, discovering a wealth of unlawfully available records.
In March this year, Funky Town Grooves Co-director Anthony Calvert was given a six-month suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to four offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Trade Marks Act 1994.
Earlier this month, the company’s directors returned to Northampton Crown Court charged with a further eight copyright and trade mark offences.
According to Northamptonshire County Council Trading Standards, the 2007 raid uncovered more than 7,000 CDs, from major labels such as Atlantic and Capitol, for sale without the right licenses.
The BPI told Funky Town Grooves that it needed both the songwriters' and artists' licences to trade. Directors were then asked sign an undertaking declaring they would cease trading non-licensed CDs.
Judge Richard Bray fined the company £1,500 for each guilty offence and ordered directors to pay £4,000 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
"I have to pass sentence for copyright offences involving the turning of vinyl records into CDs without applying for the appropriate licences. I bear in mind large profits were not made and the company has now put its house in order and is trading legitimately," the judge added.
In recent years, trading in copyrighted multimedia has skyrocketed thanks to the internet’s influence and a second-hand boom. Despite promising trading conditions, breaches of copyright and trademarks are unfortunately becoming more common.
If you feel you’re artistic products have been exploited by others, intellectual property solicitors are here to protect against copyright abuse.
