Debate over German PC fees looks to courts

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by Rick Perera

(IDG) -- Campaigners for an intellectual property rights levy on PCs sold in Germany are prepared to go to court to enforce their demands, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Organizations representing authors and visual artists want to assess a fee of 30 euros ($26.85) per PC sold in the country, with the proceeds going to compensate creators of intellectual property that can theoretically be duplicated without their permission. But Germany's computer industry has refused to accept the demands.

"Negotiations over compensation have failed up to this point ... it will probably land in court," said Reinhard Meyer of VG Bild-Kunst, which represents visual artists, photographers and filmmakers. His group is cooperating with VG WORT, which handles rights to written works.

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In a separate set of negotiations this summer, the musicians' rights guild GEMA demanded a fee of 41 marks ($18.76) per PC.

The IT industry association BITKOM called the figures proposed by the guilds excessive, compared with existing fees of, for example, 2.50 marks ($1.16) for cassette recorders and 18 marks ($8.33) for video recorders. "It can't be that we burden out of all proportion just those devices that we urgently need for the development of the information society," said BITKOM Vice President J?rg Menno Harms in a statement.

The guilds have long collected intellectual property fees on devices such as tape recorders and photocopiers, and the fees have been extended to faxes and scanners. Last month the guilds agreed with Hewlett-Packard (HWP) on an assessment on CD burners, and the settlement could apply to other manufacturers.

"We're only making a claim which is customary in the analog world," said Meyer. "The digital world is not a lawless sphere. .... If people aren't paid for their creative products, they won't create things."

But BITKOM said the intellectual property fee system, which dates back to 1965, is outdated, and called on the government to reform it. The group said digital technology should make it possible to track copying on an individual basis and compensate rights-holders accordingly, rather than slapping a flat fee on sales of new hardware.

The industry group also pointed out that consumers can easily order equipment over the Internet from neighboring European Union countries without such fees. BITKOM says that puts German vendors at a competitive disadvantage.

Meyer said he expects the battle to continue to the level of the Bundesgerichtshof, Germany's highest civil court, a process which could take two or three years.

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Industry mulls German CD-RW drive fee
(IDG.net)
Germany pushes intellectual property tax on PCs
(IDG.net)
Germans tackle digital rights management... and stumble onto a taxing solution
(InfoWorld.com)
Supreme Court to review freelancers' e-rights
(The Industry Standard)
Web radio copes with paying the piper
(PCWorld.com)
Commercial actors launch online campaign against P&G
(The Industry Standard)
EMusic sues MP3.com, alleges copyright violation
(IDG.net)
Studios in talks to sell movies on the Web
(The Industry Standard)

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