PARIS, June 28 (UPI) -- Virgin France was found guilty in Paris of ignoring an exclusive deal by Warner Music France on Madonna's song "Hung Up" and fined $754,266 for music piracy.
France Telecom and Orange had an exclusive $627,000 contract with Warner Music France to offer Madonna's single on its Web site or for downloading on cell phones for one week in October. The court said Virgin downloaded, repackaged and made the song available on its own Web site, BBC reported.
"Virgin behaved in a surreal manner by downloading the song, cracking protection measures and then selling it from their own Web site," Herve Payan of France Telecom told the International Herald Tribune.
Virginmega was told to pay $313,000 to each telecom firm and $125,300 to Warner.
Virgin France claimed to have broken the exclusive agreement in the interest of consumers. Record companies have recently been criticized for releasing top singles to mobile and Internet firms under exclusive agreements, limiting consumer access to music.
