STIM, a music rights group from Sweden, and they are locked in a dispute over Fleetmanager’s business model, mainly about how it provides car rental customers access to music.
STIM argues that the cars that Fleetmanager offers, all contain CD players and radios, which means that they need a license for the music to be played in public.
Fleemanager’s counter-argument is that only a limited number of people hear the music that is played in their cars, therefore it is not public, which means they don’t need a license.
However, STIM notes that cases involving hoteliers have ended with them needing to obtain licenses that enabled hotel guests to listen to music while on the hotels’ premises. The group also says that other rental companies in Sweden agreed to pay a per-stereo levy, and Fleetmanager should also pay.
Last July, the car sector was hit with another music-related copyright case. In that case, the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies launched a lawsuit against Ford and General Motors because their cars featured CD-ripping capabilities.
