Some may find this article more useful background to the stuff I posted earlier in this thread regarding bootlegs
HOT WACKS BOOK SUPPLEMENTS
Legal Issues - The End?
BLACK FRIDAY
By John Carm
John Carr is the Editor of 'Sticky Fingers Magazine which is dedicated to the Rolling Stones and their music. John Can can be reached at Sticky Fingers, P.О. Вох 3474, Granada Hils, CA 91344 Send 54 for sample issue or $20 for a 1-year subscription
in the last week of January, Friday the 31st, the venerable Rolling Stones bootlegger Swingin' Pig (TSP) announced to their dealers That they were closing up shop permanent ly this time. Some on the internet saw this as a clever marketing ploy, since Swingin' Pig had shut down twice before, only to resurrect themselves once again. Others. Ike myself, saw it as the end of an ens
In the past few years the legal position of the bootleg industry has changed substantially since the Recording Industry Association of America's copyright noose tightened around The European Economic Union, ending the so-called Protection Gapi-a loophole which alowed the creation of an entire bootlegging market in a number of European countries In 1985 a German court decision (later upheld in 1990) said that, Under German Copyright Laws, foreign artists cannot claim protection in Germany against the sale of unauthorized recordings, if the performances take place in countries that are not signato nes to the Rome Convention. The US, due to pressure from the American Record Industry and their tool the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA), never signed the Rome accord. And refused to accept it's validity over American music copy ights
A lawsuit brought by Phil Collins in Germany, regarding the bootleg CD of "Live USA" caused the intervention of a law court outside the national court system to decide whether the Treaty of Rome copyright protection for artists outside Germany should override local copyright laws, primanly protecting German artists. A judgment in late 1993 in favor of Phil Collins, meant that German Copynght taw now applied to all European Community artists, regardless of where the recordings took place thus, the sale of and manufacture of bootleg recordings became illegal in Germany, the home of Swingin' Pig records Fortunately, Swingin' Pig was actually based in Luxembourg (probably for just this contin gency), Italy, one of the most prolific bootlegging countries in the earty nineties, followed Germany in 1996, when the government (due to increased pressure hom the big labels and FRIAA) caused the SIAE the Tallan equivalent of ASCAP, which collects royalties for musicians) to stop collecting from live (read bootleg) CDs.
The Swingin' Pig and a few other intrepid labels moved to Luxembourg, where lax laws and a long history of relaxed copyright and banking laws, has allowed this tiny country to prosper. But the RIAA and it's lackeys have not let up. In early February of 1996, oficials in Luxembourg confiscated a number of new titles and even put a few imprints out of business. Thes increasing harassment, I'm sure, had much to do with Swingin' Pig's recent decision to finally close its doors.
This was verified by the following post on Sticky Fingers Joumal Issue 107, Feb. 11, 1997: "A very reliable source from Swingin Pig's home of Luxembourg stated that he did not know for sure why the Pig shut down all operations so suddenly, but is aware that they are currently facing customs problems in Luxembourg. He didn't come out and say it, but I read that to mean one thing if you can't ship your product out of the country (without having it seined), then your business is pretty much finished"
Hot Wacks. December 1997
