The British Beer and Pub Association and the British Hospitality Association have secured a major victory that could save the industry £5m a year as well as bring refunds of up to £20m for hospitality businesses.

In the long-running PPL copyright dispute, the Tribunal decision on the tariffs for the playing of music in public areas in pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels has seen the charges reduced dramatically, in some cases by nearly 80 per cent.

The Tribunal has ruled in favour of BBPA and BHA on almost every single issue at stake, with overall charges to be cut by a half.

It is understood that PPL are going to appeal the decision.

At a hearing on 15 October, the BBPA and BHA pressed strongly for full refunds for all those who have had to pay over the odds since 2005 to play music. The Tribunal agreed and has ordered PPL to make repayments. Should the collecting society appeal, however, then these repayments will be delayed pending the outcome of the appeal.

In recognition of the practical challenges faced by PPL in organizing there payments, the Tribunal did not award interest and did not require repayments to those PPL licensees that are owed less than £50 in total.

As PPL is appealing against the decision, there will be a delay before it writes to the 41,000 hospitality licensees and 53,000 in the retail sector, which won its parallel case, to ask them to make refund claims. Licensees will be able to claim refunds based on their own calculations of what they are owed, or they will be able to ask PPL to make the calculation for them. Refunds of the excess fees paid since 2005 by hospitality businesses will run to millions of pounds.

The new Tribunal Tariffs will now be brought into effect as soon as possible and implemented upon renewal of PPL licences. The Tribunal has allowed PPL only a 10 per cent all round increase plus RPI. For example, a hotel, pub, restaurant or bar playing CDs/tapes or radio/TV with an audible area of just under 400sq m would be paying £464.80 for its licence this year under the new PPL tariff, but the Tribunal decision has reduced this to around £110. Premises with under 50 square metres' audible area and which play only 'traditional' radios and TVs will pay about £55.

The dispute began when Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) raised tariffs for playing music in bars, hotels, restaurants and pubs by up to 403 per cent in 2005/06. In October 2005, the BHA and the BBPA persuaded the Government to refer the tariff to the Tribunal, but a first hearing in November 2007 led to an appeal on jurisdiction issues to the High Court last October, which was also won by the two bodies.

In recognition of the trade associations having been successful on the substantive matter of the value of the tariffs, the Copyright Tribunal said that they were "clear winners" in the case and awarded them 50 per cent of their costs.

Brigid Simmonds, BBPA Chief Executive comments: "This is a major victory for the industry - not to mention the fully justified prospect of refunds for overpayments in recent years. I'd like to thank everyone right across the hospitality sector who has worked so hard to reverse these indefensible charges. It's been a long struggle, but worth it, given today's total victory. We will be doing everything we can to ensure that any appeal case is heard quickly, so that the matter of repayments can be settled as soon as possible."

BHA comments: "This successful result shows how much time and effort the industry needs to spend when it fights damaging decisions made by public monopolies," says Martin Couchman, deputy chief executive, BHA. "The fact that the Tribunal says we are the clear winners shows how justified we were to fight the case."