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Copyright
The Plaintiff sought an
injunction
to restrain
infringement of their copyright involved
in
the
playing of a television set in a Lounge Bar of the
Hotel, and of musical works recorded from Radio
Eireann, and the playing of music at dances in
the Ballroom of the Hotel.
In giving Judgment the Court indicated that
the Copyright Act 1963 protects (1) the copyright
in the original work, and (2) the copyright in the
sound recording of the work. The Plaintiffs in this
case claim to be owners of the copyright of the
original musical work. In giving Judgment to the
Plaintiffs Kenny J. said that owners of Hotels and
licensed premises in this country who intend to
place television or radio sets in rooms to which the
public have access should get licenses from the
Performing Rights Society Ltd. If they do not
they will probably find themselves unsuccessful
Defendants in actions in the High Court.
The Performing Rights Society Ltd v Rosses
Point Hotel Co. Ltd., High Court, 20/2/1967
Solicitor, Discipline
Appeal from the Disciplinary Committee of the
Law Society.
The appelant Solicitor went into partnership with
another Solicitor X. Upon investigation the Society
found that there had been infringements of the
Accounts Regulations in
the partnership there
being a cash
shortage of over £4,000. The
Disciplinary Committee found proved charges
against both the apellant and X and they were
suspended for one and two years respectively. The
appelant appealed against the penalty.
In his judgment the Chief Justice said that the
Court would only interfere in a very extreme case
where the Disciplinary Committee thought fit to
impose a particular penalty for professional mis
conduct. They were the proper judges of what the
penalty ought
to
be.
It appeared
that
the
Committee were influenced by the belief that the
apparant failure of the appelant to make enquiries
about
the
financial aspect of
the partnership.
Evidence to
the contrary was now before the
Court and
it appeared
that the Solicitor had
borrowed large sums from his father to make up
the deficiency.
If these facts were before the
Disciplinary Committee they would have made a
greater distinction between the partners. In these
circumstances the Court substituted a reprimand
for the one year suspension.
In Re a Solicitor 14th March, 1969. 113 S.J.
326.
Covenanter to User
The defendant covenanted with the plaintiff not
to let any other shop on a housing estate for the
purpose of a general hardware merchant and
ironmonger. The defendant subsequently leased
another shop
to a co-operative society which
covenanted to open the premises as a food hall
and also that they would not sell on the premises
anything which would cause the landlord to be in
breach of their covenant
to
the plaintiff. The
plaintiff claimed damages for breach of covenant.
He alleged that some of the goods sold by the
co-op were, if not hardware, goods usually sold in
a hardware shop to the extent that they could be
called hardware. The landlords defence was that
they had covenanted not to let another shop for a
particular purpose and with this covenant they had
complied: they had not covenanted not to permit
the use of the premises for that purpose. In his
Judgement Megarry
J.
said
that co-operative
society had expressly bound itself by its covenant
not to use the premises for any other purpose than
that of food hall. The landlords covenant in the
lease to the plaintiff imposed a further restriction
in
that
it prevented
the plaintiff from direct
competition of another hardware merchant. The
purposes of a food hall might embrace the sale
of the entire range of goods sold in a hardware but
if
the tenant sought protection he would need
wider covenants
than
those
in
this case. The
clauses in the lease to the society were sufficient
to discharge the landlords duty to the tenants.
Rother v Colchester Borough Council, 113 S.J.
243.
LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS
(a) NEW EDITIONS OF WELL-KNOWN
TEXTBOOKS
BAILEY (S.J.)—Law of Wills, 6th Edn.. 1967
(Two Copies).
BEATTIE (C. N.)—The Elements of Estate Duty
6th Edn. 1968.
BINGHAM (J.)—Motor Claims Cases, 6th Edn
1968.
BOWSTEAD (W.)—Law of Agency, 13th Edn.,
1968.
BORR1E (G. J.)—Commercial Law, 2nd Edn.,
1966.
CORDERY (J.)—Law Relating to Solicitors, 6th
Edn., 1968.
CROSS (Rupbert) and Philip Asterley JONES—
An Introduction to Criminal Law, 6th Edn.,
1968 (four copies).
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