A jury in Belgium has ruled against consumer rights group Test Achats in their bid to sue the major record labels over the use of anti-piracy software on CD releases.
Test Achats sued EMI, Sony, Universal and BMG at the start of the year claiming the major labels where acting unfairly by using technology which stopped consumers from 'ripping' tracks off a CD onto their PC. Said anti-piracy technology has been used by a number of labels with various degrees of success in a bid to stop music fans from transferring tracks to their PC and onto P2P networks like Kazaa.
The consumer group objected to the technology on two grounds. Firstly, they argued current copyright law in Belgium allowed consumers to transfer music to different formats for private use. Secondly, the anti-piracy technology meant some CDs would not play on certain CD players, especially car stereos.
However the jury hearing the case in the Belgium courts disagreed with the consumer group on both points, siding with the record labels who argued 'exceptions to their copyrights' should not be legally sanctioned.
Test Achats plans to appeal the decision.