MK Leisure ordered to pay €3,500 in damages

MK Leisure, a company owned by Charles Polidano, known as ic-Caqnu, has been ordered to pay €3,500 in damages to an artistic director after breaching copyright laws.

Scriptwriter and artistic director Salvu Mallia claimed he was the author of the theatrical production 'Knights Spectacular 1565'.

He also composed the lyrics for a number of songs used in the same production. The show has been put up 250 times since 2006, but the author was never paid.

Mallia said he was employed with two different companies belonging to Polidano. During 2005, he worked at the Barcelo Riviera Resort and Spa, and between 2006 and 2010 he was employed at MK Leisure. During his employment, Mallia never passed the production rights to MK Leisure.

In 2010, through a legal letter, Mallia informed MK Leisure they were in breach of intellectual property rights.

He also told the company he is not giving his consent for the running of his production. 

The company replied it did not consider the production to be his intellectual work. The company also said the production was its property as it was written during Mallia's employment. 

Mallia's job earned him over Lm1000 a month, which was always duly paid. His job was terminated in 2010 following disciplinary proceedings. These proceedings are currently being investigated by the Industrial Tribunal.

MK Leisure argued Mallia's decisions were behind the ruin of another production entitled 'Strait Street'. The losses from this show amounted to over €30,000.

The First Hall of the Civil Court, on 16 April 2011, had issued a warrant of prohibitory injunction, ordering the company to stop putting on Mallia's production.

However, MK Leisure continued to run the show without the author's consent and in breach of the court's injunction.

Later the same month, the court found the company in contempt of the court.

Justice Mark Chetcuti held there was never any written agreement between the two parties concerning the ownership of copyright. Whilst the production was written during Mallia's term of employment, the law still grants him intellectual property rights over the production. Until his job was terminated, Mk Leisure did not need his permission to put up the show; however, this changed after his dismissal.

After the termination of Mallia's employment in 2010, the company was obliged to solicit his blessing to run the show. Since this was not done, Judge Chetcuti accepted Mallia's claim and ordered MK Leisure to pay him €3,500 in damages together with all legal expenses.

This ruling came just two days after Polidano Bros. were fined €100,000 for the destruction of trees during the construction of a 40-apartment residential block in Balzan.