Music industry celebrates copyright win

The easyInternetcafé chain has been found guilty of copyright infringement for allowing customers to download music from the internet and load it onto CDs.

The row between the music industry and easyInternetcafé, part of budget airline founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou's Easygroup, erupted around 18 months ago.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Sony Music, EMI and Universal Music Entertainment claimed that customers had been allowed to download copyrighted music files and burn them to CDs for £5.

Although easyInternetcafé eventually withdrew the service, the BPI is thought to have demanded compensation of £1m. EasyInternetcafé claimed that it could not be held responsible for the downloads.

Although the court has now found in favour of the BPI, it has not decided on the penalties.

Haji-Ioannou has indicated that he will appeal against the judgement.