Tribunal ruling goes against PPL

11:58 | Friday February 12, 2010

The case relates to PPL’s tariffs for pubs (tariff 110), shops (tariff 111) and offices and factories (tariff 112). 110 and 111 were opposed at the Tribunal by parties including the British Retail Consortium, the British Beer and & Pub Association (BBPA) and the British Hospitality Association (BHA). 112 was not opposed but was still amended.

PPL increased the three tariffs in 2005. According to the BRC, this meant that some retailers saw their costs more than double overnight.

As a result, The BRC, the BBPA and the BHA appealed to the Copyright Tribunal. It ruled that the licence fee increases PPL had imposed were excessive and should be capped.

PPL then appealed this decision. However, Justice Arnold rejected this appeal this morning. The BRC says that the ruling will save retailers £5m a year and win them a £20m refund of charges they have paid over the last five years.

The BBPA says the ruling means savings of around £3m a year for pubs and also opens the door for refunds going back to 2005 that could amount to £10m.

A PPL spokesman says, “On the appeal, the judge was limited to considering whether the Copyright Tribunal had erred in law, not whether the decision was one he would have made based on the evidence.

“Naturally, the company is extremely disappointed that the judge found there was no error of law although he identified some problems with the decision of the Tribunal. This leaves PPL with tariffs that it believes substantially undervalue the rights of its performer and record company members.”