Haji-Ioannou defiant in defeat

Stelio Haji-Ioannou is refusing to back down in his fight with the music industry, despite losing his High Court battle with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

But lawyers have warned that the grounds for his appeal may be tenuous.

Haji-Ioannou's easyInternetcafé chain was held liable for customers downloading music files from the internet.

But Haji-Ioannou has indicated that he plans to take the case to the House of Lords if necessary.

He claims that the easyInternetcafé customers made the recordings for private and domestic use, therefore exempting them from the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

"Consumers were recording music in our internet cafes in order to consume it at a more convenient time, just as they do with video cassette recorders," said Haji-Ioannou.

But Stuart Nuttall, a solicitor at Fladgate Fielder, believes that the grounds on which easyInternetcafé is basing its appeal might not stand up in court.

"The evidence doesn't seem to support what he is saying," said Nuttall.

"It's true that, under current copyright law, making a copy of a work onto another format, for example burning to a CD, is permitted fair dealing, providing that the copy is for personal use only."

However, Nuttall suggested that the position of easyInternetcafé may be different.

"It has been reported that it was promoting the unlawful copying of copyrighted material and charging for the service," he said. "In this instance, the BPI could invoke section 24 of the Copyright Act.

"This says: 'Copyright in a work is infringed by a person who, without the licence of the copyright owner ... sells or lets for hire, or offers or exposes for sale or hire, an article specifically designed or adapted for making copies of that work, knowing, or having reason to believe, that it is to be used to make infringing copies.'"

But easyInternetcafé is not prepared to go quietly. A spokesman told vnunet.com: "If our initial appeal fails and the decision is upheld, we will appeal against that.

"People download music files because of the rip-off price of CDs and this action by the music industry is just the death throes of a dinosaur."

The court is currently determining how much easyInternetcafé should be fined.