ECCO wins historic copyright case in St. Lucia against Mega Plex Entertainment Corporation

​The Easter Caribbean Collective Organization for Music Rights (ECCO) Inc.  has emerged victorious in its case against a cinema company, Mega Plex Entertainment Corporation which played films and simultaneously publicly performed musical works from the sound tracks in the films at its cinemas in St. Lucia.
 
According to a release, ECCO argued that the cinema company was obliged by law to seek and receive its licence and authority for the public performance of music of any sort within the repertoire it represented in St. Lucia and the rest of the OECS. The failure of Mega Plex Entertainment Corporation to receive a licence from ECCO for the public performance of music synchronized with the films that were shown in its cinemas infringed ECCO’s right of public performance in these pieces of music, whether or not the authors of the music were members of ECCO.
 
ECCO based its claim for the right to sue for infringement of foreign authors’ works on the reciprocal and/or unilateral representation contracts which it has with foreign societies.
 
Within the terms of the non-exclusive licences or assignments which ECCO has with the foreign societies it is explicitly agreed that ECCO could, at its own discretion and peril, take action in court for the infringement of any work within the repertoire of these foreign societies that occurred within its territory of operation – the OECS.
 
The defendant company put forward a number of defences.  The defendant claimed that it had obtained the necessary authorization of the film distributor to screen the films and since the music was on the same medium as the pictures no further licence was needed from a third party for the music performed while films were being shown. They also put forward an argument that since ECCO was not the owner or the exclusive licensee for the right of public performance in the foreign works associated with the film ECCO had no locus standi and as such the case should be dismissed.
 
The judge disagreed with the defendant company on every point and rendered judgement in ECCO’s favour. The case was originally filed in 2010 and came to trial in February of 2017. Mr. Thaddeus Antoine appeared for ECCO while Mr Gregory Delzin SC and Ms Cleopatra McDonald appeared for the defendants. Justice Godfrey Smith presided. The judgement was given on 25th July 2017 and damages and costs are to be determined at a later date.