One Media iP subsidiary gets advance assurance from EIS scheme

Digital music rights investor One Media iP announced on Monday that its subsidiary TCAT has received advance assurance over the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) from HM Revenues & Customs (HMRC).

The AIM-traded firm said its Technical Copyright Analysis Tool, or ‘TCAT’, is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, which it developed in-house to detect copyright infringement within legitimate digital music stores.

As it had previously announced, it was planning to separate TCAT from the core business, with the EIS advance assurance set to facilitate the company to seek new sources of funding to invest in TCAT.

“TCAT's next phase of development is to become a leading anti-piracy service for the music industry,” the board said in its statement.

“Piracy costs the UK economy £9 billion a year, according to a 2019 report by the government's Intellectual Property Office.

“TCAT currently provides a range of services to two major record labels and the world's largest media distributor on a retained basis, and its services are also used by organisations that represent the interests of the recording industry worldwide.”

One Media iP said TCAT is based in Belfast, and was eligible for financial government support from the regional development agency, Invest Northern Ireland.

At 1210 BST, shares in One Media iP Group were up 5.41% at 8.96p.