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

Sounds like a bargain!

[DrStrangeLug]

You pay car tax and you're legally allowed to drive a car.

You pay tobacco tax and you're legally allowed to smoke it.

So if you pay a "digital copying tax" on a computer, you must be allowed to do digital copying on it, surely?

Out of curiosity, if you built a pc from scratch, which component gets this tax, or is it split up between all of them ?

Re:Sounds like a bargain!

[Tom]

So if you pay a "digital copying tax" on a computer, you must be allowed to do digital copying on it, surely?

Yes, that's the point. In Germany, copying for private purposes is explicitly allowed by law. There are many court cases setting the limits, of course. However, the "Privatkopie" right is quite broad, and it does include making a few (the generally agreed limit is 5 or 6 in total) copies for friends.

Parts?

[miyako]

I wonder how this will effect people who build their own PCs. Does the tax only apply to people who buy a pre-fab machine, or will individual components also be taxed, or is it on the honor system where if you build a computer at home you are obligated to send in the ammount required by the tax.
As assinine as this is overall, I would much rather pay a $50 tax on any computer than have the media industries completely destroy or cripple beyond recognition the internet and anything remotely interesting that computers can do.

Pay up, but don't you dare make copies!

[siljeal]

In Germany you need to pay copyright levies on virtually everything that would be suitable for creating copies, be it on CD/DVD writers, CD-R(W)/DVD-R(W) media, printers, etc. You would think that this copyright levy would entitle you to some fair use, such as private copies of, say, the latest audio cd you bought. And sure enough, even though the very people who get the money would like to abolish any notion of fair use and legal copies for private purposes, you may find that even now you are not allowed to make copies of things you paid for. Way too many audio CDs sold in Germany today have copy protections (I'd rather refer to them as play protections), and by law you may not attempt to overcome these protections, rendering any copy you make an illegal one.

I think this is really a fine display of greed. Make everyone pay but give nothing in return.

This needs to be exposed.

[IO ERROR]

And based on my experiences here in the U.S., the easiest way to expose this decision is to make this levy appear as a line item on the invoice. For instance:

Siemens Kick-Ass PC €699
120GB Hard Drive
1GB RAM
Keyboard
Mouse
Digital copying levy €12

And people will ask questions about it. Then you explain it (in the FAQ or a brochure) and point people toward the government.