MegaDevill used our newssubmit to tell us that HP has to pay intellectual-property fees on CD burners retroactively for three years. A German court has decided this on Thursday. Of course HP is going to fight this.
I don't think it's fair to let CD-Writer manufacturers pay for a product that COULD be used for pirating software/audio. It seems everyone forgets that you are allowed to make backups !
The ongoing legal battle seeks to determine whether buyers of the devices must pay a flat fee to offset losses sustained by authors and artists whose work is duplicated without their permission. HP is fighting the test case on behalf of all hardware makers. |
Negotiations between manufacturers and authors'-rights guilds collapsed earlier this year, after HP withdrew an initial agreement to pay 12 marks (US$5.25) on each new CD burner sold. [See "Germans clash over authors' fees on CD burners," March 16.]
The preliminary ruling orders HP to divulge how many of the devices it has sold in Germany since February 1998, said Harald Heydlauf, a spokesman for the Landgericht Stuttgart state court. The court has yet to set the amount of the fees.
Source: IDG.net
