BPI tells Stelios to shut up

Music industry leaders want to stop an internet café chain from talking publicly about negotiations to settle a £1m music downloading claim.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Sony Music Entertainment want easyInternetCafé to keep quiet about negotiations over paying for music downloaded by its customers.

At the High Court in London, Mr Justice Collins ordered that their application for a 'gagging' order should be heard in full next week.

Until a year ago customers at the chain - part of Stelios Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup - had been able to download music and burn it onto CDs in-store. But the BPI and its members said the process infringed copyright, and demanded compensation.

The company offered £30,000 for a UK settlement and £50,000 for a global case, but the music industry is now seeking £100,000 and £380,000 respectively.

Sony and the BPI have said that a compromise is less likely if confidential matters are given publicity. But Haji-Ioannou has been quoted by the BBC as saying that the gagging order came about because the music industry was embarrassed by its financial demands becoming public knowledge.