Music
EMI takes legal action against Ireland's allegedly slow-moving anti-piracy plans
by Tyler Munro
January 12, 2012
EMI, which is part of Sony or Universal or both or something at this point, has launched a lawsuit against the country of Ireland. More specifically its government, who the label says hasn’t done enough to prevent illegal downloading.
In short, the Irish government plead that it would start encouraging its country’s Internet Service Providers to work with copyright holders in an attempt to block sites that promote piracy. The Irish Times reports however that the label’s Irish branch is unsatisfied with the efforts, claiming that the government is “dragging its feet” on the issue.
EMI Chief Executive Willie Kavanagh says he’s urging that the government presents him (and other copyright holders) with an instrument that would allow them to pursue an injunction against ISPs to punish downloaders, but says no such instrument has yet been presented to him. Worse, he fears that the process will be “unlikely to satisfy the music industry’s requirement for injunctive relief” if and when it is finally delivered.
As the report indicates, EMI’s Irish division’s profits halved in the last year, a decline it attributes almost exclusively to piracy.
