Anti-Piracy Group Caught in Corruption Net

A copyright scandal has flared up in the Netherlands. And, the ones caught in the net are none other than the anti-piracy group BREIN. Back in the year 2006, BREIN, funded by Hollywood, had allegedly asked musician  Melchior Rietveldt to compose music for an anti-piracy video. This video was to be screened at a local film festival and the music composer accepted the job under strict conditions.

But, the anti-piracy ad was reportedly recycled for various other functions without the composer’s permission. Rietveldt recognized his music from a Harry Potter DVD, in which the anti-piracy ad was shown.

That was apparently not the only incident. Rietveldt claims that tens of millions of Dutch DVDs have his work inside, and all done without him receiving his dues.

The composer’s financial advisor puts the total sum of the unpaid revenues at a million Euros at least. Even with the presence of tight copyright laws and royalty collecting agencies in the Netherlands, the composer couldn’t get help for his problem.

Rietveldt went to the local royalty collecting agency Buma/Stemra, but he heard very little from the agency and didn’t receive any royalties. Then, earlier this year, a board member of the agency, Jochem Gerrits, contacted the composer with a proposal.

Jochem allegedly agreed to help Rietveldt recoup the money but only if he received 33% of the money. Moreover, the composer has to assign the track in question to the music publishing catalogue of the Gerrits, who owns the High Fashion Music.

The conversation between Gerrits and the composer was recorded by Pownews and it spread like wildfire. Due to the controversy, Gerrits decided to temporarily resign as Buma/Stemra board member in order to focus on his defense.

The controversy led to a mass disbelief among the Dutch and the news is being poured out from many mainstream outlets in the country. BREIN director Tim Kuik was heard saying that this is a contractual issue in which his organization is not involved.

He said that BREIN is neither a distributor nor a client in this case. His comments were later proved to be true from the fact that the video in question was made for another party related to the movie industry.

It would be ironic if Melchior’s anti-piracy music were to also be available on some of the pirate sites.  An EU court just ruled that your ISP cannot be forced to block you from using pirate web sites.

How do you think the courts will rule if Melchior Rietveldt has to take BREIN to court?