The Performing Right Society, or PRS to its close friends, has won its legal dispute with Dutch collecting society Buma over a licence the latter had given online music service Beatport.
Buma provided Beatport with a licence back in July which gave it rights to distribute globally an extensive catalogue of songs, including those represented by PRS. However, PRS argued that Buma only had the right to offer the rights to its catalogue within the Netherlands.
With that in mind PRS went to the Dutch courts to have the licence revoked, and the judge hearing the case ruled that Buma offered "no convincing arguments" to prove they did have the right to grant the Beatport multi-territory licence.
Commenting on the ruling, PRS MD International Karen Buse told reporters: "We are disappointed that Buma decided to act in the way it did but pleased that the judge has upheld the contract terms between PRS and Buma, confirming that no society can issue licences without the express agreement of the other. PRS welcomes fair and healthy competition for members across Europe and we look forward to working with all collection societies in the future to provide the best possible service to songwriters and music publishers. We shall also continue to operate our own successful and legal pan-European licensing scheme; making it easy and efficient for online music services across Europe to access the music they need to support and grow their businesses".