Dave Horvath
28 Jun 2006 8:15
The French arm of media giant Virgin Records, VirginMega France is being sued for illegally obtaining a copy of Madonna's song "Hung Up" and redistributing it for sale on their website.
The courts found VirginMega in clear violation of an exclusive deal reached by Warner Music France with France Telecom and Orange. With the courts ruling, VirginMega has been ordered to pay fines in excess of 600,000 euros ($754,266; £414,147).
Herve Payan of France's Telecom stated "This is an amazing case of simple piracy by a respected company.
Virgin behaved in a surreal manner by downloading the song, cracking protection measures and then selling it from their own web site." VirginMega however says it broke the terms of the agreement to serve the best interests of it's consumers.
Source:
BBC News