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 Wednesday 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 plaintiff 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 to the society. 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.
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 Wednesday'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 Wednesday.
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 musical works by 2,500 members.
"But the evidence could fully support the fact that the accused
has been using the musical 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 different size are charged with different
standards by the society. The usual fee is 254 fen (31 US cents)
per square meter per year for a department store of 10,000-20,000
square meters 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 Wednesday.
"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
Wednesday.
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 known 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.
(China Daily February 5, 2004)
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