German Court Sets Copyright Tax on New PCs

graemee pastes: "The District Court of Munich has ordered Fujitsu Siemens Computers to pay a copyright levy on new PCs. The landmark decision, announced on Thursday, ends a nearly two-year dispute between the largely Germany-based computer maker and the country's VG Wort rights society, which has sought compensation for digital copying. VG Wort had filed a suit against Germany's largest PC maker, Fujitsu Siemens, seeking 30 euro (US$41) for each new computer sold in the country. The court agreed to a 12 euro copyright levy."

Comments

Germanic vs. Roman law

[Anonymous Coward]

First they tax CD-R(W) media by default because they assume you will use them for copyright-protected content and now they're also making you pay an additional tax on computers because they assume you will illegally be using copyright-protected content on your computer. They just assume mens rea without proving it on an individual basis. Guilty until proven otherwise is the premise Germanic law is based on. The German legal system as well as all other modern legal systems are based on Roman law, which is based on the premise that you are innocent until proven guilty. How this decision could have come about is totally beyond me. What's next? An additional tax on eyeglasses because you might use them to view copyright-protected content?!

Just as a reminder, the four levels of mens rea set forth in the MPC (Model Penal Code) are:

(1) Purposely - Express purpose to commit a specific crime against a particular person

(2) Knowingly - Knowledge that one's actions would certainly result in a crime against someone, but did not specifically intend to commit that crime against the particular victim which one is accused of injuring

(3) Recklessly - Knew that one's actions had an unjustifiable risk of leading to a certain result, but did not care about that risk ("reckless disregard"), and acted anyway

(4) Negligently - Did not intend to cause the result that happened, but failed to exercise a reasonable duty of care to prevent that result (which includes failing to become aware of the risk of that result)

Some commentators like to add on a fifth uncodified level (technically applicable only in civil lawsuits and not criminal prosecutions):

(5) Strict liability - Did everything possible to prevent the result that happened, but will be held liable anyway as a matter of public policy, because the government wants to force all such similarly situated persons to always exercise the maximum reasonable duty of care under such circumstances.

Re:Sounds like a bargain!

[henni16]

The *sweet* thing about German copyright law and this taxes:

• The lobby groups are active in buying copyright law updates, since last year very successful
• Yes, you were allowed to make some private copies for yourself and famuily/close friends, because you pay taxes for CDs, printers, scanners and whatnot
• BUT since September you may only do so if there is no "copy protection" on the media - and most CDs (in Germany) and DVDs (CSS counts as _copy_ protection) are "protected", so you might not even have the right to make a backup..; I think in "pre-digital-age" you were even allowed (because of the taxes) to make a copy of a rented VHS for yourself, despite all the stupid FBI-Warnings etc
• You are not allowed anymore to circumvent copy protection, to offer software that does it (CloneCD for example, various DVD-backup solutions) or to describe how to do it (DMCA, anyone?)
• Since September ou are not sllowed to make a copy from "obviously illegal sources" (introduced to cover P2P)
• The "VG Wort" mentioned here covers only written works like books and pictures - for copying music there is another "VG" who collects additional taxes..
• If you really want to vomit, read their proposals for the next changes, like the power to request customer information for IP adresses from ISPs..

As a footnote: the movie industry has used lots of pressure on shops and video stores to forbid the import of non-RC2-DVDs (you can't buy/rent them anywhere anymore). There are sometimes price differences that you could order an RC1-DVD-player from amazon.com with your RC1-DVDs and pay less than buying the RC2-DVDs in Germany.
Example: just waiting for the 4th season of Angel;
RC1: ~42 Euros from playusa.com(+possible customs and German VAT (16%))
RC2: 110-120(!) Euros, depending on the shops..