Music copyright

This case involves a claim for damages for an alleged violation of copyright laws. Names used are not the real names of persons or entities.

Pinoy Organization for Music or POM is a non-profit organization composed of music creators. POM owns public performance rights over musical works of their members, as well as the right to license public performances of foreign copyrighted musical works, either of its members or those of affiliate societies from different countries, performed in the Philippines.

Nicole, a representative of POM, monitored restaurants that were owned by Laine Lobsters Inc. She noted that the restaurants were playing radio broadcasts through a speaker and that part of the radio broadcasts included some of the copyrighted musical works of POM.

Due to the monitoring, POM wrote to Laine Lobsters to inform them of the unauthorized public performance and their need to pay annual license fees.

Laine Lobsters argued that their restaurants merely play what is being played on the radio, the radio stations have already paid the necessary royalties and that the music was being played for their staff, not the customers.

Does the act of playing radio broadcasts that include copyrighted music in restaurants constitute a public performance and copyright infringement?

Yes. The Supreme Court held that playing radio broadcasts which include copyrighted music through the use of the loudspeakers is, on its own, a performance.

Does the broadcast and the radio reception constitute the same performance?

No. The radio reception created a performance that was separate and distinct from the broadcast, pursuant to what is called the doctrine of multiple performances. It was held that a radio or television transmission can create multiple performances at the same time. Therefore, whether or not the radio station was properly licensed by the owner of the copyright is irrelevant because the reception is considered a new public performance that requires a separate protection.

Laine Lobsters was thus ordered to pay damages to POM. (Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Inc. vs. Anrey, Inc., G.R. No. 233918. Aug. 09, 2022.)

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