ECCO LOSES APPLICATION TO THE HIGH COURT FOR INTERIM INJUNCTION

BASSETERRE, SAINT KITTS, JUNE 5, 2025 — On June 05, 2025, the High Court of Justice refused an application for interim relief brought by the Eastern Caribbean Collective Organisation for Music Rights (ECCO) Inc., in which the organisation sought to suspend the enforcement of the 2024, Copyright (Collective Management Organisations) Regulations.

The Regulations, enacted under the Copyright Act No. 14 of 2024, and brought into force in December 2024, establish a regulatory framework for Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) operating in Saint Kitts and Nevis. The framework ensures that all CMOs are licensed and regulated in the interest of promoting transparency, accountability, and fairness for event promoters and creatives.

The Court’s refusal of the injunction effectively affirms the Government’s firm stance that it has right to implement a licensing regime to protect local rights holders and the general public from unregulated and potentially exploitative practices. The substantive legal arguments raised in ECCO’s claim challenging aspects of the Regulations will be determined after trial.

The government relied on the following evidence to oppose the injunction application —

• ECCO had been consulted on the Regulations since 2023;
• ECCO has not applied for the required authorisation to operate under the new law;
• ECCO continued to issue licences unlawfully after the Regulations came into force in December 2024;
• ECCO was not in good corporate standing, having failed to file its annual returns for three consecutive years (2023, 2024 and 2025) until after public notice from the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs was given; and
• ECCO was downgraded to provisional status by its international oversight body (CISAC) and had delayed royalty payments to creatives for years.

The Regulations were developed in close collaboration with regional and international stakeholders, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and were the product of over three years of public consultations.

Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Hon. Garth Wilkin commented that “[t]he Regulations are designed to ensure lawful and credible collective rights management. They protect our creative industries from opaque or improper licensing practices and empower the State to safeguard the economic rights of artists, musicians, and other copyright holders.”

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis remains committed to fostering a fair, transparent, and well-regulated creative economy and encourages all organisations wishing to operate in the collective management space to comply fully with the law. However, the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs wishes to inform the general public, again, that ECCO is not authorized to operate within the jurisdiction of Saint Kitts and Nevis at this time. No other collective management organisation (CMO) is similarly authorized.

ECCO was represented by Victor Dane Hamilton and the Government by the Solicitor General and Crown Counsel II Sasha Lloyd.

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