Mix Tape Amnesty Declared In Ireland
Home taping has long been a serious issue in Ireland, and has severely hampered the ability of major label artists to fully exploit their income streams. For a limited time only, under a new amnesty scheme, illegal mix cassettes can be returned to designated recycling points throughout Ireland, without risk of prosecution…
Protecting Historical Copyright
The Irish Federation Against Historic Music Copyright Theft today announced the mixtape amnesty with an advertisement on the back page of the Irish Times. From now until May 31st 2010, a number of mixtape recycling points will be available for the disposal of illegally recorded compilations of copyrighted cassettes.
It is suspected that there are hundreds of thousands of such illegal cassette compilations stashed in homes throughout Ireland. In an effort to purge the nation of its now-embarrassing history of disrespect for intellectual property rights, those in possession of such materials can dispose of them over the next few weeks without fear of criminal charges being brought against them.
In this time of reduced Government budgets and general economic hardship, the copyright enforcement authorities believe that giving the public the opportunity to ‘do the right thing’ will elicit a positive response, and obviate the need to conduct an expensive and inefficient data gathering campaign to identify mixtape pirates. These costs, combined with the work inherent in releasing search warrants for private households, mean that even a modest reponse to the amnesty will have saved the taxpayer a considerable amount of money in the long run. However, it must be noted that once the amnesty has expired, the Federation will be ramping up its campaign against mixtapes with renewed focus.
For more information on the amnesty, please visit mixtapeamnesty.ie.