The group wants EMI, Universal, Sony and BMG to stop releasing copy-protected
CDs and to reimburse fans.
But the International Federation of the
Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a trade group, said the suit was baseless.
The copy protection technology was introduced two years ago by record
companies who faced a sales slump and wanted to stop pirated CDs reaching the
black market.
A CD by Shakira was among those affected, Test-Achats said
It usually works by placing a layer of data on a CD that only enables playback
on a home stereo or portable hi-fi device.
But Test-Achats, known as
Test-Aankoop in Dutch, said it had received 200 complaints from fans who were
angry at the fact that they could not listen to the discs on some CD players.
Big-selling releases including Shakira’s Laundry Service and Radiohead’s
Hail to the Thief were affected, they said.
Test-Achats spokesman
Mechels Ivo said: “We are trying to establish legal precedent in this matter.
Then we expect other consumer organisations will follow.”
‘Protect’
But an IFPI statement said: “European law is clear that record companies
and other copyright holders have the right to protect their works through
technical means.”
Industry observers say the lawsuit is the biggest
European legal challenge yet to the music industry’s practice of releasing
copy-protected discs, according to the Reuters news agency.
The lawsuit
is expected to be heard in a Belgium court this week.
Warner Music is
the only one of the five major music labels not named.
Related
- Lawsuit Challenges Copy-Protected CDs
- Europe’s Downloaders Are Big Consumers
- French probe anti copy protected CDs
- Will Consumers Change Copyright Law?
- European RIAA-style anti-file swap lawsuits ‘inevitable’
