"Remember this is the "society" that is now sueing companies for playing the bloody radio at work!"

It's probably best to understand an industry before having a seizure over a law that has been in force since 1988. But don't worry; it's a common mistake, made by all truly stupid people.

The PRS act on behalf of the original copyright owners who transfer these rights by registration. In this case all Musicians who are registered with the PRS. The PRS didn't pass these law/s.

Here's a taste of some relevant points regarding copyright law that have been selectively overlooked.

The economic rights of a copyright owner are expressed in the Copyright Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988 as a series of 'restricted acts' that only the copyright owner can do or authorise.

These are:

• To copy a work

• To distribute copies of a work

• To rent or lend a work

• To perform, show or play a work in public

• To communicate a work to the public (which is any electronic transmission and includes broadcasting)

• To adapt a work (and all the other acts with that new work)

All these rights include the right to do any of these acts with a substantial part of the work; this is assessed qualitatively and therefore can be a very small part of a work if it is distinctive.

The CDPA 1988 also enables the copyright owner to limit the scope of that assignment to one or more, but not necessarily all, of the restricted acts that collectively form the bundle of rights known as copyright.

Composers assign the ‘performing right’ in their compositions to PRS for Music in order that PRS for Music can act effectively on their behalf.

The following rights are assigned upon membership:

• To perform the work in public

• To communicate the work to the public, which includes the right to broadcast the work or otherwise make the work available by electronic transmission

• Film-synchronisation (copying on to the sound track of a specific film a musical work specially written by the Member for that purpose)