PLAYSCHOOLS have been given an unexpected lesson on copyright law after a company representing Hollywood studios demanded that each child pay a fee of €3 plus 17.5% Vat per year to watch DVDs in their playgroup.

The Motion Picture Licensing Company (MPLC), which collects royalties on behalf of companies such as Walt Disney, Universal and 20th Century Fox, wrote to 2,500 playschools last month warning that it is illegal to show copyrighted DVDs in public without the correct license.

The letter was sent with the approval of the Irish Preschool Play Association (IPPA), which represents the schools and their 50,000 children.

The MPLC had wanted €10, plus Vat per year for each child, but the IPPA negotiated for the lower fee.

Despite the reduction, playschool managers have reacted angrily to the offer of an “umbrella license” which “gives you access to 1000s of films”.

“To be honest, when I got the letter with the IPPA newsletter I laughed and binned it,” said Paula Doran, manager of Kiddies Korner, a community playschool in Shankill, south Dublin. “If we brought in something like that the parents would have to pick up the costs. But I don’t like the way they went about it — once you signed up they’d automatically take money out of your account every year.”

The IPPA is the largest body representing Irish playschools, which take children aged between three and five. Doran said she didn’t understand how the MPLC’s claim could be legal and has no intention of paying.

“I don’t think too many judges would come down hard on a playschool over this,” she said. “We would rarely show DVDs anyway because it’s frowned upon — kids get enough TV at home. The odd time we would pretend to go to the cinema. We give the children tickets and they watch 20 minutes of Snow White, Fireman Sam or SpongeBob.”

The MPLC only began operating in Ireland in recent months, after setting up in Britain in 2003. It is also targeting other sectors such as coach operators, which occasionally show movies in public.

Doran is unlikely to be the only playschool owner who chooses not to pay for a universal licence after the IPPA discovered the MPLC had failed to register with the Irish Patent Office as a copyright licensing body. Under the 2000 Copyright Act, royalty collectors such as the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and Phonographic Performance Ireland (PPI) are required to register before they can collect fees.

A spokesman for the Patent Office said that if an organisation collects money but hasn’t registered it may be fined or staff may be jailed if a complaint is made and it is found guilty.

Last Friday the IPPA e-mailed members and put a notice on its website to say it had discovered that the MPLC had not registered to collect royalties. “We would ask members not to purchase any licence until the Irish Patents Office confirms their registration,” said the notice.

Irene Gunning, IPPA’s chief executive, said she was disappointed with the MPLC. “We acted in good faith with this organisation and felt we were doing our members good by negotiating them down from €10 per child,” said Gunning.

“I feel misled by them now. It is only through an alert mother that we became aware that they need to be registered. People are entitled to collect royalties but there are other sectors to pick on.”

Samantha Holman, executive director of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency, said the MPLC’s arrival in Ireland was welcome. “People who have wanted to show films in public before didn’t have someone to go to,” she said. “We have got lots of queries from people who wanted to show films but had to say ‘go back to the film producer’ and that wasn’t practical.

“I would say MPLC have been badly advised as they have got off to a bad start by not registering properly. Collecting societies get a bad press in Ireland as people resent and resist paying for things much more so than in the UK.”

MPLC, which operates in 18 countries, said that, as of Friday, it had applied for a license to collect royalties in Ireland. It also defended its €3 per child charge for playschool infants. “We were able to convince the studios to [settle] for this low fee. Traditionally, film companies charge €100 or more for a single showing of one title.”

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