A WOMAN whose voice was recorded on tape by her late teacher in the early l960s reciting a popular biblical story sued EMI Records Ltd for alleged breach of copyright in the High Court yesterday.
Judgment was reserved in the case by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Costello.
Ms Pauline Gormley (43), The Close, Melrose Park, Swords, Co Dublin, claims her recitation of how the Twelve Apostles were formed was recorded on tape in the classroom by her late teacher, Ms Margaret Cunningham.
This happened when Ms Gormley attended Rutland National School in Dublin between 1961 and 1962. The recording was made without the consent of her parents.
She further alleges that her recitation, entitled Then There were Twelve was released without her knowledge in 1991 by EMI on a commercial cassette called Give Up Yer AuI Sins and is seeking damages for alleged breach of copyright.
EMI Records (Ireland) Limited, with registered offices at EMI House, Ailesbury Road, Dublin, denies Ms Gormley's claim that her story constituted literary work under the 1963 Copyright Act.
The company claims the cassette was produced under a licence agreement in August I990 with Ms Cunningham and that the royalties were used to maintain Ms, Cunningham at a nursing home. Ms Cunningham died in July 1996.
Ms Fidelma Macken SC, for EMI Records, submitted that Ms Gormley could not claim copyright because it did not fall within the ambit of an original work. A mere recitation would not eonstitute a literary work.