The Alliance was taken to Tribunal by a BPI-led consortium (see The Issue). However, the majority of the parties involved settled in 2006.
The Copyright Tribunal hearing convened in Autumn 2006 with opening arguments from lawyers representing Yahoo, AOL and Real Networks who are objecting to the terms of the MCPS-PRS Alliance Joint Online Licence (originally launched in 2002), particularly the rate they should pay to music creators for online usage of their works in online services. They have asked the UK Copyright Tribunal to help develop a template for digital trading.
The Alliance was then given the opportunity to makes its case on behalf of its songwriters and composer members for a fairer share of revenue from the use of music online.
Both sides made final submissions to the Tribunal in mid-January and a decision was announced in July 2007.