German court sets copyright levy on new PCs

December 27, 2004

Germans
purchasing a new Personal Computer will have to pay 12 Euro (~$16,-) copyright
fee. This is due to the outcome of a lawsuit
between VG Wort rights society, an organisation that is seeking compensation for
digital copying, and Fujitsu Siemens, a computer builder.

Germany is one of several European countries that,
for decades, has been collecting special copyright levies on the sale of
analog copying devices, such as blank audio and video cassettes. The
levies are intended to compensate rights holders for lost royalties from
private copying of music, images and moves.

The country is now poised to become the first on the Continent to
impose a copyright levy, similar to a royalty collection, on new
PCs.

According to the orignal article Fujitsu Siemens is considering appealing the
case. Unfortunately the article does not mention if the levy will only apply to
computers with a CD/DVD recorder. But of course one can also make digital copies
(downloads) with the hard drive. Read the original article here.
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Source: ITworld.com