ECCO taking legal action against Kelcom

The Eastern Caribbean Collective Organisation for Music Rights Incorporated (ECCO) has taken legal action against three regional companies, including parent company for Karib Cable, Kelcom International, which is headquartered here, but also operates in St Lucia and Antigua.{{more}}

It is estimated that well over EC$1 million is owed in back royalties to ECCO by Karib Cable, Dominican cable company Marpin 2k4 Limited and Caribbean Cinemas operating in multiple states across the region.

Steve Etienne, General Manager of ECCO, which is based in St Lucia, said that the action taken is the last in a series of efforts to try to get the businesses in question to cooperate.

“We have gone through a process of communication with them. We told them that they needed to get a license with ECCO,” he explained, but added that over the years there had been a series of delay tactics.

“We see this as a last resort, because personally, as the GM, it’s something sensible people should not pursue, it’s time consuming, it’s expensive,” Etienne explained.

He added that the motive was not to prohibit the use of music, but to enforce the rules.

The GM said that there is a high music content shown on cable television and in blockbuster movies and under the agreement, once the music is used royalties must be collected.

In fact, Etienne told SEARCHLIGHT that of the three cable providers that operate in St Lucia, Karib Cable was the only one which had not submitted its application for a copyright license as is required.

He said when ECCO was set up, letters were sent to the management of Karib Cable informing them of the legal requirement to obtain a copyright license. According to Etienne, no response has been received to this correspondence has been received.

This, Etienne said, sends a bad signal to the other two companies who pay their fees, which according to ECCO’s GM is a percentage of the subscription fee charged to the cable company’s customers.

Currently, cable operators are required to pay 1.625 per cent of the amount charged to its subscribers, and under the existing copyright laws, a new company needs to declare its operations to entities such as ECCO and be granted a copyright license before commencing operations Etienne explained.

He further explained that the content in question was predominantly foreign, but ECCO has the responsibility to honour its commitment with affiliate copyright companies such as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC) and Performing Right Society (PRS).

A portion, depending on the content, is then given over to these entities from the fees collected by ECCO from the businesses Etienne explained.

Attempts to reach the General Manager at Karib Cable for a comment on the matter proved futile.