A nightclub boss has received a substantial bill and been warned that he could face prison after it emerged that he had been playing music without the relevant copyright licence.
Stephen Miller, who runs the Ivory Lounge in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, was handed a three month suspended sentence and ordered to pay in excess of £20,000.
The businessman had been taken to court by Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), which represents UK musicians and music publishers.
Court had heard that PPL had been alerted to the fact that the venue had been playing a number of songs from the organisation’s portfolio without the required licence.
PPL contacted the defendant in 2014, encouraging him to apply for a licence, but he did not heed the warning. This prompted officials to begin legal proceedings.
Last year a Judge banned the nightspot from playing PPL songs, but the case went back to court this month after it emerged that the offending tracks were still being used by the venue.
Miller did not attending the hearing, citing his mother’s ill health, but had admitted he was in breach of the ban.
Mr Justice Birss, sitting in the High Court, London, said that an inference could be drawn that the club had been “operating in consistent breach of the court order for a considerable period of time.”
He imposed a three-month suspended prison sentence, believing that it would be the best way to see that the defendant complied with the ban.
The boss was also ordered to pay £5,177 to PPL and additional costs of £17,000.