Easy Group boss Stelios Haji-Ioannou is planning to appeal in the House of Lords against that court ruling that found his group guilty of aiding music piracy through their CD burning service (where customers could download illegal MP3s and have them burned to a CD for a fiver). The music industry sued Easy Everything after Stelios' out of court settlement came no where near what the record labels felt they were due. Last month the courts ruled in favour of the labels and will now decide how much compensation the Easy company must pay. But Stelios will be hoping that he can get a favourable ruling in the Lords and avoid any payment.
While not denying customers used his CD burning service to download and record illegal MP3s, Stelios will use the 1988 Copyright Design and Patents Act to side step responsibility. That act says "the making for private and domestic use a recording of a broadcast or cable programme solely for the purpose of enabling its review or listening to at a more convenient time does not infringe any copyright" – he claims his company was not involved in the downloading of illegal music, just in enabling customers to make private recordings that they could listen to music at a more convenient time, ie he feels he is exempt from other copyright laws.
He told reporters yesterday: "Consumers were recording music in our internet cafes in order to consume it at a more convenient time. Obviously a judgment on that basis would have thrown the music industry in disarray. I believe it is a question for the House of Lords and not for a summary judgment. We will continue to fight the point on behalf of the consumer."
It’s a complicated line of argument and the BPI will fight it full on – meaning, for some time yet, the case continues.