According to a BPI statement, an employee of the company's
premises in Motherwell, Scotland reported illegal file-sharing to
the trade body. A two-month investigation followed and a number of
employees are reported to be assisting the police with their
enquiries. A report will be issued to the Procurator Fiscal,
according to the BPI.
BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said: "File-sharing music in
the workplace is illegal, misuses company resources, wastes
employees' time and introduces network security risks."
Saving music to a home computer or business network without
authority is unlawful. However, the music industry has turned a
blind eye to those adding music to home computers, unless hey make
it available to others via peer-to-peer networks. This is the first
time that the BPI has investigated a company on suspicion of
digital music piracy in the workplace.
Copying music for personal use without permission risks
litigation. But copying music "in the course of a business" or
"otherwise than in the course of a business to such an extent as to
affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright" is a criminal
offence under section 107 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
of 1988. Such copying also risks litigation in the civil
courts.
Taylor said: "Any businesses that are complacent in this area
should take note: failure to put in place a stringent, enforceable
policy to prevent staff copying and distributing music on company
systems could expose the company, and the employees concerned, to
the risk of civil proceedings or a criminal investigation."
A spokeswoman for Honeywell told OUT-LAW today:
"Honeywell consider copyright infringement a
very serious matter and have rigorous policies intended to prevent
such activity taking place on their premises. Similar to the
recording industry, Honeywell vigorously protects its vast
portfolio of intellectual property from others attempting to
capitalise on their value and the strength of the Honeywell brand.
We will continue to fully cooperate with investigators and with the
BPI."
In 2002, the BPI's US counterpart, the RIAA, took action against
an Arizona firm that ran a dedicated server for its employees to
store and access thousands of MP3 music files over its network.
That company agreed to pay $1 million to settle the case.
