The thin blues line
In a ‘Man Bites Dog’ story from This Is Lancashire, the Performing Right Society (PRS) has accused Lancashire Chief Constable Steve Finnigan of infringing copyright, apparently to send a message to other police forces playing unlicensed music in their stations.
The PRS is seeking an injunction against Lancashire police and seeking damages for copyright infringement. Eleven other police forces have refused, or failed, to obtain licences for music played in their premises.
PRS said Lancashire Constabulary’s head of legal services had instructed the boys in blue to ignore the society’s request for information needed to ensure officers could be properly licensed, and had failed to provide a detailed response to the PRS complaint.
One suspects Lancashire Constabulary’s zeal to enforce the demands of copyright holders on the general population will be somewhat dampened by this development.
