A 16-year-old dispute over the fees to be paid by owners of nightclubs and discos for recorded music played on their premises reached another milestone yesterday when the High Court in a test case decided to vary the payment structure awarded by an arbitrator two years ago.
The dispute between Phonographic Performance Ireland Ltd (PPI), which protects the interest of record companies, and nightclub owners, has been going on so long that Ms Justice Laffoy said the legal proceedings were in something of a time warp.
New copyright legislation had been introduced in 2000 but this case was still governed by 1963 legislation, she said. The nightclub owners have contended since 1988 that the PPI tariff is excessive, unfair and inequitable.
The judge said there were 56 disputes in relation to how much nightclubs and discos should pay the PPI and the matter was referred to an arbitrator, accountant John McStay, in 1996. Mr McStay had randomly selected disputes involving Laceys nightclub owned by Carrickdale Hotel Ltd, in Co Louth, and Carnabine Holdings, owner of Shambles nightclub in Co Monaghan and made an award in 2002. Laceys, which had been in dispute with the PPI since 1991, appealed the arbitrator's findings to the High Court.
The PPI claimed the arbitrator's award should be confirmed. Laceys challenged new tariffs based on the numbers attending a club or disco.
Ms Justice Laffoy found that the arbitrator had erred in assigning baseline rates to various attendance bands in his tariff structure which were revenue and profit-related and in weighting the baseline rates so as to absorb a greater share of the "real profit" of the nightclub enterprise.