Should establishments that hire bands to perform pay for copyright licenses and royalties?
Yes, if the bands will perform copyrighted music. This is the decision of the Supreme Court in Cosac v Filscap (G.R. No. 222537, 28 February 2023). In this case, FILSCAP, a nonprofit corporation of composers, authors, and music publishers, sued Cosac, Inc. because its restaurant played copyrighted music – via live bands – without license and without paying the corresponding fees.
What is interesting here is that while this case was filed before Republic Act 10372, which classified infringers into primary and secondary, the Supreme Court still found this classification applicable under the original Section 216 of the Intellectual Property Code. The phrase “any person infringing …” was deemed to include all those who had a part in the infringing activity whether as direct or indirect infringers.
What if the establishment only plays songs that are already being played on the radio?
Yes, the establishment must still get a license. This is the decision in Filscap v Anrey (G.R. No. 233918, 9 August 2023). According to the Supreme Court, the act of playing radio broadcasts containing copyrighted music through the use of loudspeakers (radio-over-speakers) is in itself a public performance, and therefore violates the right to public performance of the copyright owner. The Supreme Court also held that it is immaterial if the radio station has been licensed by the copyright owner, because the reception of the radio broadcast creates a new public performance requiring separate protection.
