JUDGMENT OF HAYFRON-BENJAMIN J.
The plaintiff by his writ claims £G25,000 damages for conversion of the plaintiff's musical works in twelve songs taped by the defendants onto Senaphone label gramophone records; the said records were sold by the defendants as wholesalers to other retailers and also by retail to the public at the price of seven shillings per record without the plaintiff's consent first had and obtained. The writ was taken out on 30 December 1963.
The plaintiff's case as appearing in his pleadings is that he is the owner of twelve musical works entitled Rain Drops, Take her in your Arms, Follow your Lover, Anne Claire, Where are you, Sailing Home, Baya Mambo, Emma Wawa, Sweet Adelina, Negrita Samea, Amada Mia and last but by no means the least, Little Auctioneer.
He states that he is the owner of the copyright therein and of the sole right of taping and recording such works on gramophone records and of selling such records to the public and to other retailers. The defendants were in the years 1956-61, owners of the record label, Senaphone and were manufacturers of gramophone records with the said Senaphone label. They taped and recorded the said twelve records on diverse dates between 1959, 1960 and 1961, without the plaintiff's consent first being obtained. They sold these records by wholesale to other retailers and also by retail direct to the public on diverse dates during the years 1959 and 1960, the last of such wholesale and retail sales being made in 1961 by auction to other retailers and the public without the consent of the plaintiff.
[p.81]
In all, according to the plaintiff the defendants sold 30,000 copies of each record, making a total of 360,000 records sold at seven shillings per record and they converted the proceeds to their own use. The plaintiff therefore claims the substantial sum of £G25,000 as damages.
The defendants in their statement of defence deny that the plaintiff is the owner of the songs and also that he is the owner of the copyright in the said songs. They go further and state that no copyright exists in the songs at all. They admit recording the said songs on the Senaphone label, but deny recording or selling any of those songs in or after the year 1959. They admit that they sold records at a public auction in 1961, but deny that any of the records mentioned in the statement of claim were sold that day. By 1961 they had already closed down their recording business because it was unprofitable. This was i
