By John Leyden for The Register. This story has
been reproduced with permission.
Robert Langley's decision to plead guilty to two copyright
violation offences and three charges under trademark law brought a
premature end to what was expected to be a five week trial at
Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page testified against Langley at
Glasgow Sheriff Court last Friday prior to the defendant's surprise
change of plea. He escaped without conviction after three separate
trials over similar offences in England, the BBC
reports.
Giving evidence, Page testified that he had not authorised the
recordings, which he said were of poor quality. He also drew a
distinction between fans who swapped recordings and professional
bootleggers, such as Langley.
"The legitimate part is where fans trade music, but once you
start packaging it up and you do not know what you are getting, you
are breaking the rules, legally, and morally," Page told
The
Scotsman. "There are some of these type of recordings
where it is just a whirring and you cannot hear the music."
Langley, known in the trade as "Mr Toad", sold discs featuring
illegal recordings of live gigs for between £6 and £300 on his own
Silver Rarities and Langley Masters labels. He was arrested by
Strathclyde Police after a BPI-organised anti-piracy raid on his
stall at a Scottish record fair in February 2005.
The seizure of CDs and DVDs included counterfeit Led Zeppelin
material valued at an estimated £11,500, a £220 set of recordings
from a Led Zeppelin tour in Japan and a £40 set of a warm-up
session in Denmark. It also included an estimated £1,790 of pirated
Rolling Stones recordings and a cache of Beatles music valued at
£885.
Langley, 57, from Buckingham, was released on bail pending a
sentencing hearing scheduled for 30 August. He also faces another
hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act in which prosecutors are
expected to seek the confiscation of almost £250,000 he's estimated
to have made from music piracy.
BPI anti-piracy manager David Wood welcomed Langley's
conviction. "Langley was notorious in the trade for the sale and
distribution of bootlegs and is another of the major bootleggers to
be convicted. He'd amassed a huge personal fortune by ripping off
musicians, record labels, music publishers, and the state, but
justice has finally caught up with him," he said.
© The
Register 2007
