IFPI helps CD plants stay on the right side of copyright law
January 10, 2001 - The recording industry has produced a new set of guidelines to help CD manufacturing plants comply with copyright rules when reproducing music. Failure to verify copyrights cost replicators millions of dollars in the past year alone, as the music industry stepped up its worldwide 'zero tolerance' campaign against commercial CD piracy.
"Copyright for Replicators - How to Protect Your Business," prepared by IFPI, trade body of the recording industry, in cooperation with BIEM, representing rights collection societies for songwriters and authors, has been circulated to approximately 750 CD plants worldwide.
CD piracy is a massive, illegal global industry, estimated to be worth US$4.5 billion per year. The problem is spurred by the massive overcapacity of CD manufacturing plants The total global manufacturing capacity of plants is estimated at nearly double legitimate demand-and that is only the plants that have been identified.
The leaflet, issued this week,outlines to plants how to avoid the inadvertent manufacture of pirate recordings. The guidelines stress plants' obligation to ensure they see proof of copyright clearance. Plants need to ensure their customers have shown they either own or hold a license both from the owner of the rights in the composition and from the owner of rights in the sound recording before processing orders.
CD plants leave themselves open to claims from copyright holders if they fail to confirm that their customers own or hold the proper licenses.
Since IFPI's new Litigation Department was set up last year, the organisation has reached agreements for the payment of nearly US$3 million from plants found to be producing infringing CDs.
Geoff Taylor, IFPI's Director of Litigation & Regulatory Affairs says, "These cases illustrate the massive costs to replicators of failing to put in place strict procedures to ensure they respect copyright law. IFPI wants to help manufacturers understand their obligations and avoid orders from music pirates. We aim to make life for legitimate CD plants clearer and safer as a result of this initiative."
The new leaflet is being circulated together with an updated version of IFPI's standard anti-piracy guidance, the Good Business Practices for CD Mastering and Manufacturing Plants. IFPI also strongly supports replication industry initiatives, such as the Anti-Piracy Compliance Standards & Procedures, produced and administered by the International Recording Media Association.
Background
- In 2000, legitimate worldwide demand for optical discs was over 16 billion while the total capacity was 28 billion.
- The number of known plants operating worldwide has risen to nearly 750 from around 600 in 1998.
- Recent settlements concluded between IFPI and replicators include one with the Swedish DCM Group, which agreed to pay US$1.2 million towards anti-piracy activities in respect of CD-ROMs containing unlicensed business software and MP3 music files. The Danish plant Tocano paid US$715,000 in compensation for the replication of over 400,000 CDs produced for a Russian client. In 1999, Swiss-based Multimedia Masters & Machinery agreed to pay just over US$1 million for producing infringing stampers for customers in Eastern Europe.
Contact: Adrian Strain, Fiona Harley IFPI Communications Department
Tel: +44 20 7878 7900