Copyright Law

GGF, Performing Rights Group Negotiate Licensing Agreement

By soulxtc

Global Gaming Factory (GGF) asks the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM) to help it obtain the licenses necessary to sell music legally on the site after it’s acquisition of the Pirate Bay on August 27th.

Global Gaming Factory (GGF) has announced that it’s begun detailed discussions with the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM), a royalty collecting group, so that it may obtain the licensing agreements necessary to offer music for sale on Swedish BitTorrent tracker site the Pirate Bay after it completes its acquisition of the site on August 27th.

“GGF wants to obtain licenses that are comprehensive of all the rights that will be used at The Pirate Bay,” says GGF CEO Hans Pandeya in a press release. “It needs a player from within the music industry with the necessary insight and weight can produce such an agreement – STIM is such a player and has innovative creative ideas with the right skills. We would like STIM to be our main partner for a pan-European music license.”

The deal is surely what Pandeya alluded to back in late July when he mentioned that he was in final negotiations with a global player on a ?hunt pirates Agreement? which is expected to serve as a model for the entertainment industry.

STIM is apparently excited with the prospect of remaking the Pirate Bay, and welcomes the opportunity of devising alternative models of dealing with illegal file-sharing that don’t involve costly litigation.

“GGFs intention to acquire The Pirate Bay will open a window to the entertainment industry, which suffered heavy losses due to illegal file-sharing,” said Tomas Ericsson, STIM’s Executive Director of International Markets & Media. “The music industry was forced against its own will to take tougher measures against illegal file-sharing through costly litigation. STIM has been for some time presented by proposals on how the file-sharing issue can be handled and welcomes GGF’s plans to legalize The Pirate Bay.”

Pandeya, who said earlier this month that GGF is about to sign a deal with one of the major record labels, has managed to make another important step towards remaking the Pirate Bay into a legitimate online media destination.

The only question is whether or not a majority of the millions of people who visit the site each day will be willing to start paying for what they’re so used to getting for free.

Either way, grab a backup copy of the Pirate Bay while you still can.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on August 19, 2009 (boomark / email).