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Apple Sued in France for iPod Music Royalties
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.
If I pay the tax, how much music am I entitled to pirate?
Are you serious?
If Apple loses that means that EVERY hard drive that could potentially hold and play illegal music files - which by my calculations is all of them - is fair game for such a tax.
Not only that, but the iPod is probably the stupidest player to start on - AFAIK it's almost the only player capable of playing LEGAL songs. (via iTMS) ("Almost", because I'm not sure of the status of the iPod clones like the Napster player)
Why not start with something that is physically unable to play legally downloaded files?
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
If Apple really wants to win they should recall all iPods still in stored in France and put out AD's denouncing the "musicians" rights group and the tax involved, when people can't get what they want is when you get their attention, lawsuits happen all the time but a product being pulled from your country gets things done... "we're sorry, we cannot sell our product to you because is suing us under because they feel they deserve money for every one of our product we sell just in case it is used to pirate music"
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
Well, it's the law, fair or unfair Apple needs to pay up.
Excellent. So we've just settled a lot of debates like gay marriage, the Patriot Act, DMCA, etc, etc.
After all, the law is the law.
The big question is, how do I become an artist that is entitled to get this money? Do I have to be under contract of a certain recording/distribution company? Do I have to have proof that someone has illegally copied my music? Do all artists get the same amount? Do some get none? Are there any non-artists reaping the benefits of this tax? if so, why?
This ranks right up there as one of the most assinine laws around, not just france's implementation, but every other country that has such a law.
So it seems to me that you've already paid the artists... time to fire up kazaa and pirate stuff like mad! erm, download the stuff you paid for.
Then why isn't the US invading North Korea? There is much evidence of the same kind of Human Rights violations and atrocities that existed in Iraq. Well, the answer is that North Korea is not the World's Second Largest Producer of Oil...
Kim Jong Il is simply not as accessable as Saddam. A surgical operation of the kind that was applied to Iraq could not work in Korea. War with North Korea would mean bloody mayhem for everyone involved, and a huge refugee problem on the Korean peninsula. The US wrecked Saddam's regime because it was vulnerable. He was a bad guy who deserved to come to a bad end. The vast majority of Iraqis would agree. As for the oil, the US will get it like everyone else: at market prices. That is more than I can say for the currupt French and Russian officials who profited from the oil for food shame.
an ill wind that blows no good