Record company EMI has made an offer of mediation in its court battle with the Dubliners folk group over the promotion and selling of a CD box collection entitled The Dubliners Platinum Collection.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday admitted the legal action into the commercial list of the High Court.
The judge was told by solicitor Cian Ferriter, for EMI, that the company had made a proposal to the Dubliners that the case was a suitable one for mediation. There were "relationship issues" existing between both sides and thousands of CD with a profit margin of €3 each was at issue.
However, Denis McDonald SC, for the Dubliners, said there was a lot at stake for the group. It was not just the damages suffered due to loss of sales, he said. "It goes beyond that." The Dubliners are off on a two-week tour of Germany from next Friday and there might be a difficulty in the mediation taking place, counsel added.
The dispute concerns copyright over seven songs featured in the collection - The Mountain Dew, Dirty Old Town, A Song for Ireland, The Irish Rover, The Town I Loved So Well, The Marino Waltz and Dublin In The Rare Old Times.
The proceedings have been brought against EMI Records (Ireland) Ltd by Baycourt Ltd and John Sheahan, Barney McKenna, Sean Cannon, Eamonn Campbell, Paddy Reilly and Ronnie Drew, trading as The Dubliners, and James Kelly, acting as executor for the estate of Luke Kelly.
It is claimed that the song recordings referred are part of The Definitive Dubliners album and were included in the new box collection without the consent of the Dubliners, thereby infringing the copyright over those recordings.
In the proceedings, the Dubliners are seeking orders restraining EMI or its agents from promoting, distributing, selling or disseminating copies of the box set. The group is also applying for an injunction restraining EMI or its agents from using the title The Dubliners Platinum Collection in place of 'The Definitive Dubliners' or from marketing the song recordings included in The Definitive Dubliners under or by reference to a sleeve entitled The Dubliners Platinum Collection. EMI is also being asked to account for all of the platinum collection box sets sold by retailers to date.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he will hear the injunction applications on November 21st next unless both sides decided in the meantime to go to mediation. If they did, they could mention the matter to the court on Thursday.