Patrick’s Pub in Providence fined for violating copyright laws

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, February 28, 2009

By Katie Mulvaney

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Patrick’s Pub, a favorite Smith Hill political haunt, will pay $14,000 over three years for violating federal copyright laws.

The copyright holders sued the pub and its owner, Patrick T. Griffin, last year for violating laws four times when a band played reggae legend Bob Marley’s “Is This Love,” Tom Petty’s “The Waiting,” the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil” and “Ventura Highway” by Dewey Bunnell one night last February. They had sought $750 to $30,000 for each violation.

“He obviously learned his lesson in a costly fashion,” Daniel P. McKiernan, the pub owner’s lawyer, said of his client in the wake of the consent agreement reached yesterday in U.S. District Court.

Though the suit was brought by the copyright holders, it was the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers that pursued the case. A membership organization of more than 330,000 composers, songwriters and music publishers, ASCAP requires bars, restaurants, nightclubs and even stores to pay license fees to gain unlimited access to its repertoire of millions of songs. Royalties are then distributed to publishers and writers, according to ASCAP.

Griffin repeatedly rebuffed efforts to get him to enter a license agreement, according to Richard Reimer, a lawyer for ASCAP. As a result, an ASCAP investigator went to the pub and saw the performance. Griffin has said he mistook ASCAP’s pursuit of a license as a scam.

McKiernan said the pub now has a license agreement with ASCAP and all appropriate copyright organizations.

Patrick’s Pub will hold a fundraiser called Save the Music Party on Thursday to help raise money to pay for the settlement, McKiernan said.