Singer/songwriter Johnny Duhan has brought legal proceedings over the alleged unlicensed reproduction by a number of companies of a performance of one of his songs by the Three Irish Tenors.
Mr Justice Daniel Herbert ruled yesterday that Mr Duhan is entitled to the discovery of certain documents which he sought for the proceedings over the song, The Voyage.
Mr Duhan claims to have written that song and has brought his action against television production companies Radius Television Ltd, TV Matters BV, of Amsterdam, and RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd.
He is alleging unlicensed reproduction - in the form of CDs, video recordings and other media - of The Voyage as performed by the Three Irish Tenors.
Mr Duhan alleges that those recordings of The Voyage amounted to an infringement of his copyright and moral rights of the words and music of the song, and further claims that the defendants were at all times aware that these performances infringed his copyright.
It is claimed the recordings of the Three Irish Tenors - Ronan Tynan, Anthony Kearns and Finbarr Wright - performing The Voyage took place during 1999 at the RDS in Dublin and at venues in the US.
The defendants deny the claims.
Yesterday at the High Court, in a detailed judgment, Mr Justice Herbert said Mr Duhan had sought the discovery of documentation, which he claimed was both relevant and necessary.
That documentation included all videos, CDs, DVDs, and audio-video recordings of The Voyage produced by or behalf of the defendants and all literature, packaging, sleeves, booklets and lyric notes containing any reference to the song.
He was also seeking documentation referring to the geographical extent of the circulation and the number of copies of the recordings, as well as invoices, records of distribution and stock arising out of the recordings being made available to the public.
The defendants had made certain documentation available but were not able to make the discovery of materials which were the subject of the proceedings.
The judge said he was satisfied that Mr Duhan's claim for the production of certain items was bona fide.
However, the totality of what Mr Duhan was seeking was "too extensive in content and time" and would be an oppression of the defendants if granted, Mr Justice Herbert said.
The judge ordered limited discovery of documents, files, notes, records, correspondence in the defendants' possession relating to any performance of The Voyage produced by them within the European Union during the period January 1st, 1999 to December 31st, 2002.