Performers right ruling against a supermarket in Argentina

The Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals No 1 of Cordoba, Argentina, confirmed the sentence of first instance dictated by Judge Gonzalez Zamar, who held that the supermarket chain Disco had to pay one million pesos (around U$S 300,000 or £180,000) for publicly performing music in its supermarkets without paying the respective copyright, performers rights and producers rights cannons. Following art 56 of the Intellectual Property Law No 11,723, that establishes that “[t]he performer of a literary or musical work shall be entitled to request remuneration for his performance, broadcast or retransmitted by radiotelephone, television, or recorded or printed on record, film, tape, wire or any other substance or body suitable for sound or visual reproduction”, the suit was brought by the Argentine Chamber of Producers of Phonograms and Videograms (CAPIF). What distinguishes the ruling from previous ones is the fact that is the first time that the amount of damages is calculated taking into account the number of cashiers (paying points) of the supermarket.