SONGPEOPLE.CO.UK LISTEN. RATE. WIN

The Irish branch of record label EMI is taking the state of Ireland to High Court in an effort to compel it to enforce efforts against illegal music downloads.

Although the Irish government recently promised to issue an order in early 2012 to allow copyright holders the right to force internet service providers to block those sites promoting piracy, EMI records is apparently not waiting for the government to make good on its offer.

On Wednesday, EMI filed suit against the state for failure to correctly apply particular aspects of EU copyright law. The label seems to be concerned that the issue at hand will be further delayed and that the government’s final stand on the matter will not be to the company’s liking.

EMI Ireland chief executive Willie Kavanagh contends that his company should have the right to seek court injunction against internet service providers allowing users free use of piracy sites.

Because EMI has yet to see the promised order from the Irish government, Kavanagh told the Irish Times that he is forced “to believe it’s unlikely to satisfy the music industry’s requirement for injunctive relief.”

Major labels – headed by EMI – have been lobbing the state since 2010 in an effort force it to comply with standards against piracy as set by European law.

In October 2010, High Court Justice Peter Charleston allowed that labels based in the country – EMI, Warner, Universal and Sony – were indeed suffering at the hands of internet piracy, but went on to note that those laws that would block piracy sites were not enforceable in Ireland.

“It is not surprising,” his judgment went, “that the legislative response laid down in our country in the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, at a time when this problem was not perceived to be as threatening to the creative and retail economy as it has become in 2010, has made no proper provision for the blocking, diverting or interrupting of internet communications intent on breaching copyright.”

Ireland, he pointed out, was not in compliance with European law. The judgment prompted the government to propose a remedy for the problem by early 2012.