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Apple Sued in France for iPod Music Royalties

Posted by pudge on from the seems-fair dept.

alex_guy_CA writes "A musicians rights group in France is suing Apple Computer for back royalties due from iPod sales. It seems in France, all CDs, hard drives, and the like owe musicians money in case any of it is used for piracy. Only Apple isn't paying up." I want compensation from sales of Microsoft Windows just in case it is used for spreading viruses.

7 of 818 comments (clear)

  1. We're #2! by monstroyer · · Score: 5, Informative

    This does not bode well for Apple. As a Canadian I know we have the "Blank CD-R Tax", which is comparable to the French tax. There are at least 25 other countries that have similar taxes.

    If this French musicians rights group wins their case, this could set a precedent for other countries with comparable laws to sue as well.

    As a musician, i feel embarrassed about this lawsuit.

    On another note, cue the anti-french sentiment from a post-terror american centric peanut gallery... But at least this gives hope that the USA isn't the most litigious country in the world. Maybe you aren't #1 in everything after all. ;)

    1. Re:We're #2! by Serapth · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, it isnt just CDR's that get this tax in Canada... its almost all storage devices. DVD, mp3 players and I believe there was a stink a little while back about hard drives but im not sure where that one ended, all pay a small tax to the RIAA ( well, the Canadian equivalent ). I believe Australia and Britain pay very similar fee's. In the end, I cant see why France would be much different.

      The only issue I could think of, is if there is a double tax on the players... Such that if Apple is already paying a small tax for each drive they put in the iPod, then the retail sale shouldnt be taxed again. I doubt this is the case though.

      That said... I do think these taxes are BS. Its sorta like charging a tax for a blank piece of paper, because I could use it to plagerism someones work... Hmmm... maybe the should tax the pencil too... etc... etc... etc... Taxing something, for one potential use... of which that use is generally illegal is complete crap. Oh well, just another point of why MPAA's lobbying efforts are so effective.

    2. Re:We're #2! by radish · · Score: 5, Informative

      Maybe the case in Canada, but in France (and the UK, also mentioned) all taxes/levies/whatever else are always included in the advertised price. In other words, the price tag says 50 euros, you pay 50 euros. How that is divided up between government, retailer, manufacturer etc is another matter.

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    3. Re:We're #2! by CKW · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, it isnt just CDR's that get this tax in Canada... its almost all storage devices. DVD, mp3 players

      NOT TRUE.

      They *were* considering it for flash memory and PORTABLE hard drives (no one was proposing it for hard drives in general) as well as vastly increased levies for everything else, but those got shot down as they decided that "there is no evidence that music distribution is happening via these mediums" - aka simply the fact that people are listening to their own collections of music on their own CF/micro-HDD are NOT sufficient to incur a levy - the standard is "are people putting music on it and sharing those with friends". As well there are tons of "non infringing uses" of things like CF which probably also weighed on their minds.

      So there is now a levy on portable devices with non-removable storage, but it's no where near as much as the industry wanted.

      Following is the *complete* list of tarrifs, taken from http://www.sycorp.com/levy/index.htm, all numbers below in Canadian currency:

      21 cents per CDR/CDRW
      29 cents per cassette tape over 40 minutes
      portable music devices with less than 1 GB NON REMOVABLE memory - $2
      portable music devices with less than 10 GB NON REMOVABLE memory - $15
      portable music devices with more than 10 GB NON REMOVABLE memory - $25

      EVERYTHING ELSE - NO LEVY (that includes DVD R/RWs, removable CF/HDDs, and devices that don't include built in persistent memory).

      The retailers are the ones who collect and submit the levies, I don't think the manufacturers have to do anything. So there won't be lawsuits like this here - besides, no-one has as screwy laws and lawsuits as do the French :-)

  2. Re:Who's debt is it anyway? by Kenja · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple sets the selling price. Thats why every place that sells apples stuff does so at the same price. They can give you bonus deals, but the base price is fixed or you lose your apple reseller license. This is also what put all the third party apple stores out of business since they where forbiden from selling for less then the apple owned stores. Because of this, most apple products are purchased direct from apple and those that are not have their prices set by apple.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  3. Not piracy by El+Cabri · · Score: 5, Informative

    To be a bit more accurate than the news summary, in France, as in many other European countries, blank media has a long history of having an additional tax that is not aimed as at fighting piracy, but as a way to remunerate _fair use_. The money is passed on to the various artist unions that handle the distribution of royalties, and of course, Britney Spears and other American "artists" get a share of that.

    I think it started with blank VHS tapes back in the 80s. More recently, CD-Rs and the likes, and even more recently, hard drives in general.

    While it was questionable to tax hard drives in general, since many of them are not used to store media, it is hard to make a case for the iPod's hard drive to be exempt.

    I personaly kind of like this system, which is by itself a better, more modern way of artist compensation than copyright is. Of course in France the two systems coexist, so you get the worse of both worlds.

  4. You can copy as much as you want by youdontcare · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is not a "piracy tax", this is a "right to copy" tax. In France, we can copy anything but software as long as the source is legit (comes directly from the rights owner) and the copy is kept for our own private use.

    Your friend buys a DVD, CD, book ? Copy it and keep it for yourself - it's legal.
    Rent a movie, copy it, bring it back and watch the copy as much as you want - legal.
    Buy a CD, copy it, sell it - legal.
    Go to your media-hungry friend who owns thousands of DVDs, CDs, books and copy them - legal.