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MP3 Company Refuses to Pay Swedish Copyright Levy
praps writes "Swedish MP3 player manufacturer Jens is to be hauled before the courts for flatly refusing to pay a charge designed to compensate copyright owners whose music is copied to a different format for private use, reports news site The Local. Jens says the surcharge, administered by Copyswede, is unreasonable and that "it's not our problem that the record industry hasn't come up with its own solution". Apparently Apple doesn't pay it on their iPods either."
I need some good earbuds, maybe I'll buy some from you.
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
At last, one real-world company that fights back to the MPAA/RIAA/Copyright mongers!
I hope they will put the trial on TV like they did with mr. Jackson.
L33T ! W00T !!
Free ?! Does that mean I can't get a Discount ?!
This message was
"And I pray
Oh my god do I pray
I pray every single day
FOR A REVOLUTION"
Four non blondes
The ridiculous thing about this whole deal is that the law specifically states that its supposed to be compensation for "private copies" which before this law was just as legal as it was after. The only difference is that all of a sudden makes of movable media(cds, casettes, dvds, etc etc) was supposed to pay extra to the copyright owners because they felt people should have to pay to be able to use their music how they wanted.
My opinion is that such a levy is complete bullshit. It is under the guise that it is meant to compensate an industry that MANUFACTURES NUMBERS to make it seem like piracy is their single loss of revenue, and that is more than questionable. I mean, is there anything in place making Toaster makers pay a fee for all of the hoodlums stealing loaves of bread? No. And this is equally as stupid. I applaud someone standing up to this garbage.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Is there a list somewhere on the web that hilights all the crazy quirks of copyright law in each country? It seems to be a very unresolved area of law, with plenty of opportunities for hijinks.
May I wish them all my support. As far as I see it it is a tax that is paid to a private company. In the same way that when ever I do a data back-up I must pay "sony et al" some money for the "blank media" . This is in Portugal at least. One shop tha tI know....mediamarkt. Actually puts how much you pay on he receipt. In this way I found out I was also paying a "recycling" tax on my RECHARGABLE batteries.
"They shaft us coz we take it!"
Last year, 85 million kronor in cassette compensation was collected and redistributed by the copyright organisation Copyswede.
FYI, 85 million kronor is appx. 11 million U.S. dollars.Bradley Holt
Look, if these crazy governments (US included) would stop butting in, the record labels that hold on to their current business models would go out of business, but some other, more creative model would come into being. Hell, one of the big record companies themselves might even be the innovator.
Jerry
http://www.cyvin.org/
Jens is commonly known as being one of the few public figures in sweden standing up against the swedish equivalence of RIAA/MPAA, Antipiratbyrån ("The Antipiracy Bureau").
It does seem pretty damn unfair that Apple would be exempt, since they don't manufacture their players in Sweden. I'd urge all Swedes to buy their media/ players that are burdened by taxes that would go to this agency abroad like we've been doing (i buy all my blancs in germany, where there are no unfair taxes. Hell, over here the tax is more than the media itself!) for a while now.
Will wank off Linus Torvalds for fame.
Computer makers and ISPs, in general, don't have a lot of incentive to cooperate with the RIAA. It seems like only Apple and Microsoft have gotten into bed with the RIAA.
Imagine that - not wanting to pay money to a corrupt industry that wants payment from everybody both innocent and guilty, just in case thery do something wrong.
Imagine if the laws the media industry 'buy' were appplied to other products. Knife manufacturers would face life imprisonment (or the death penalty) incase someone buying one of their knives killed someone with it, Ford and Honda executives would be locked up on the off chance that one of their cars was used as a getaway car, and makers of mobile phones would face a free holiday in Gitmo because a nutter could use one of their phones to remotely detonate a bomb.
You go music industry, I love you and your purchased laws and taxes!!
compensate copyright owners whose music is copied to a different format for private use
Copied to a different format huh? So, I have to pay money to do this :
One-a - Nutheeng vrung veet me-a Tvu - Nutheeng vrung veet me-a Three-a - Nutheeng vrung veet me-a Fuoor - Nutheeng vrung veet me-a Oone-a - Sumetheeng's gut tu geefe-a Tvu - Sumetheeng's gut tu geefe-a Three-a - Sumetheeng's gut tu geefe-a Noo Let zee budeees heet zee fluur Let zee budeees heet zee fluur Let zee budeees heet zee fluur
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
I'm glad someone is taking a stance. Goodness, if no one fights back now, then in 10 years we will be paying dearly for every byte of information we get ahold of.
I hope these companies can prove there are enough free mp3's and paid mp3/wma services available that such taxation isn't required.
Secondly if the CD is protected by the music industry obviously that CD didn't get copied and they aren't entitled to any compensation.
A statement from CopySwede: "As the law stands, people have the right to make copies for private use, so the copyright owners should be fairly compensated."
:-)
Isn't that what they pay for when they buy the music?
Or is he saying that Swedes only pay for the right to have a single copy of the music on the medium supplied, and must not transfer it to any other medium?
Does copying it in electronic form to stranded copper count?
Predictive text is shiv!
Making hardware companies pay fees for acts which may or may not be committed by people they cannot control is nothing more than a government subsidy to a private enterprise. The media companies have a reputation for screwing the artist and screwing the public. Now they want to screw other private businesses with a preemptive restraint of trade.
I sat let's make the media companies pay for all the actual and potential hearing loss that comes from listening to too loud music. That ought to bankrupt them pretty quick. Let's hear their arguments against that! Rediculous as that is, it's exactly what they think they can do to everyone else.
In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.
...in Italy, at the very least. The amount of the tax (out of the total cost of the iPod) is shown in red at the bottom of each iPod price page at the Apple Italy store (http://apple.com/italystore).
When I transfer music I legitimately own to another format for my continued personal use, that's a fair use of my copy. Otherwise all the thieving recording industry need do to extort another round of profits from me is discontinue the old player, the old format. Formats are now so much more often new software, therefore cheaper to roll out (and less of a loss in discarding) than the old hardware formats. So the record industry wants to force upgrades of the same content. How many times must I pay to continue to listen to _Dark Side of the Moon_? That's why they're trying to stop us from doing it ourselves. It's certainly cheaper and even easier for them than producing some new content that I'll like.
--
make install -not war
Yes, the Swedish extra tax for storage is stupid. check
Yes, copyswede is a lobbyist organisation. check
Yes, the law is horrible.
But opposing the law on the grounds of "it's a stupid law" isn't the very best of moves. It gives a very bad impression of the company, that somehow the law does not apply to jens company. At least, here in Sweden, that sort of thing is frowned upon.
Jens is only trying to attract customers by using populist tactics. He tried to file a company called Superhero Jens AB, but the name was denied.
I am just waiting to see God appear on my doorstep with a receipt book in his hand, taxing me for using my penis for other than what he though it should be for.
A few months ago, there was a case where the MPAA/RIAA oriented anti-copyright agency, the piratbyrån used insiders to plant evidence on a company's server and then raid them BSA style. There is also a lot of pro-softwarepatent work and lobbying going on behind the scenes in the agencies.
Jens is the founder of the company Jens of Sweden, a company that mainly imports and resells Asian mp3/music players under their own brand. It's a business that has made Jens a millionaire in a really short time. I consider their products to be so-so, but a lot of my friends own one. I've also heard that he's quote "an ass" in real life, but nevertheless he's a pretty smart one.
A couple of months ago in Sweden there was a large public debate regarding copyrights and illegal downloading over the internet because the government was was setting in the motion of banning it "once and for all". And that's when I got respect for Jens: Because of his popular company and respect in the business world, he got a lot of media attention. He used it to criticize the current music industry, telling them to push and advance their business instead of trying to patch up a stone age one. I remember a debate on public television where it was Jens with a couple of other pro-Internet people versus a bunch industry henchmen. It was some exciting television!
Regardless of what you think of him as person, he's been a very important figure in this country, and he's fighting on our side. Too bad for example there isn't a "Jens of the United States" that can do the same for the Americans.
What's so bad about being lazy? What if there was a war and nobody showed up?
I meant to write that "Jens does NOT deny that people are copying music onto their players."
Sorry!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
If I buy a CD, and it becomes lost or damaged before I can make a copy, does it constitute a fair use for me to copy the same disc from my friend, or download the same songs to replace the ones that I paid for? Thoughts?
"Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"
You just can't say it more clearly than that.
If the activity is legal, there can be taxes imposed. One might argue "this isn't a tax." Okay, so technically, it's not, but it is in many respects. Further, somewhere along the line is an assumption of unlawful infringement by the users sponsored by the makers of media players. This 'legal' assumtion circumvents the free-world's notion of due process under law.
I have been an opponent of preemptive copyright infringement compensation since I first heard of it. It flies in the face of presumed innocence and due process that we, the people of the free democratic societies have always expected. The only "approriate" way for this to be legally established is for the **AA's to lawfully SUE all consumers in every country in a tremendous class-action suit against infringement activities. I'd love to see them try that too. They'd loose and people would more directly hate them for it.
The biggest problem with all of this is that the public at large is still unaware of how this affects them. So as long as the costs to consumers are hidden (by charging the media and hardware makers) consumers will pay the price on the label and move along as if nothing wrong has occured.
So people can discuss with some more information, the actual law is "Lag (1960:729) om upphovsrätt till litterära och konstnärliga verk" available (in Swedish, sorry 'bout that, I'll try to translate the relevant portion as a reply to this) here. The relevant paragraph is chapter 1, 26 k .
Has it ever occurred to you that God might be a committee?
--- Jubal Harshaw
So why don't they create an OGG player instead? :-P
A bit unrelated perhaps, but i'm just wondering something here. I live in Holland and i see *lots* of mp3 players being offered for free or almost free nowadays. I got one when i got a course, my gf got one with a magazine, and so on. Are all these players also included in the copyright fee? Because if they give them away like candy, well ... seems to me that they actually don't need that fee.
I stepped into this thread expecting something else I guess.
Please, for the love of Snickers, tell me.. tell me that these comments are sarcasam. Seriously people, you're sterotyping yourself. And you're scaring me.
We have Patricia Santangelo, http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/01/22 10219&from=rss, the mom standing up to the RIAA. We don't have ane enforced tax on CD media or iPods that I know of. This is one of the examples where our Legiscritters seem to have given away a bit less of our rights than those of some other countries.
The RIAA may be suing people who have allegedly broken the law - or whose computers were used to break the law - but to my knowledge, there's no "reimbursement" tax on the bulk of law-abiding citizens.
Now, how was that Grokster case going again...doh!
The RIAA in the US collects royalty fees for every blank CD, Tape and Burners sold in the United States on a CD burner it's about $8.00!!! You all these fuckers are being paid for coping music for personal private use....and being paid when I burn my family photo's, burn my data, burn my work, and anytime that I burn to a cd that doesn't even have anything to do with music.
Nowdays we have stricter copyright laws and even coping between friends is strictly forbidden, and suddenly the levy is described as beeing compensation for me copying the music I already own to a different medium.
It seems someone want's to keep the cake and eat it to...
/greger
A stupid tax like this could increase the price of *ANY* device capable of playing digital audio files, so lets start:
- PDA (Audio Jack connector: if its mono pay only half tax:)
- Mobile phones (almost any recent model can play audio files)
- Laptop (wow this one have big hard disk, does it mean increased taxing?)
- Desktop (did anyone hear a computer playing music?)
- Servers (yep we all know Microsoft Servers operating systems come preloaded with Windows Media Player:) Humm.. a 2TB storage server can cost more in music TAX than the system itself.
Link it properly for Google: Extortion Fee ;-)
Spine World
I hope this isn't just personal preference but I wish people would start to refer to themselves as customers and not consumers. Doing so often highlights some of the injustices that companies are getting away with by treating people like numbers and not people.
I also think it's kinda funny that the RIAA started using the word 'Artist' instead of 'Musician', I guessing it's because half of their acts are just miming dancers and don't make any music at all.
I though 'Artist Suggesting Ways Around Copy Protection' was going to be about people forging paintings or banknotes, sadly not.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Market forces break down when the product is free, and the record labels realize this. That's why they're scared shitless, and are trying prop up their business model by legal means instead of competing fairly.
It would be better if they just gave up, though, because in the long run they can't win, and their attempts at price fixing makes the economy as a whole less efficient. They don't care about the economy as a whole, of course, but only about themselves (i.e., they have "rational self-interest").
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
This is illegal in the United States ... see the mp3.com court case for their "Instant Listening Service". Despite the fact that users owned an actual, physical copy of the CDs in question (not even a lost or damaged copy), it was still seen to be copyright infringement because the copy being made wasn't of the user's copy, it was of mp3.com's copy.
Similar logic applies in your case--since you're not making a copy of your own CD, the courts would likely find it to be illegal and not fair use.
Dlugar
Computer Go: Writing Software to Play the Ancient Game of Go
1 öre is 0.01 SEK or about 0.13 us cents
Erik
Has it ever occurred to you that God might be a committee?
--- Jubal Harshaw
Finally companies are standing up and saying "well thats a load of horseshit." Because really, it is, it says those devices are only used to steal music...
This is bad.
Ten bucks says that the US companies are lobbying to jack up the fine (its not a tax, its a fine) or add another one.
I can see that you're buying a car. Now, we've just added this drugrunning and speeding fines, because you Americans like to do those. That'll be $5000 extra, please. Oh, I know..you probably don't run drugs or speed much, but you MIGHT, so we have to fine you.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Component CD recorders in the USA, like the kind you'd put in your stereo cabinet, are required to use those special CDS. So basically you can think of them as looking for a "tax bit" before you can record -- even if you're recording your daughter's violin recital. Sections 7-17 and 7-18 of that same FAQ explain this a little.
You know how people keep trying to have "Microsoft Tax" refund days? Everyone who uses their Type 2 discs for personal recording, or recording of material in the public domain, ought to agitate for refunds, also. This "tax," which is turned over to a private concern to be given only to its clients, should be declared illegal. I'd like to see independent artists band together to sue for their share of the "tax," in the meantime.
If it is damaged, I would expect you have the implicit right to restore your property using backed up media - even if the "backup" was not yours. You are still in possession of the media, and the data on it is yours to use (with the typical statutory restrictions).
If it is lost, then the media becomes the property of the new owner (finder) and is no longer yours. You must repurchase the disc (and data contained therein), because someone else holds (owns) the media.
Naturally, IANAL, but this is what you'd get if I was on the jury.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
They're called "Ogg Vorbis."
There is nothing stopping the Italian gov from taxing the item you import - they have every right to levy taxes that don't act as barriers to free trade within the EU common market.
Compare it with the different sales taxes in US states. However you should note that the EU is far away from becoming a federal nation (or any kind of nation). It's a political block loosely tied together.
It will be one more justification as to why I am going to give away as much media as possible to everyone I know - you, me, everyone has paid for it via the tax on blank levies.
What the content companies want is to get their levies and still sue people, which is bull shit.
Share more music etc.
So if I use a blank CD/DVD to backup my documents, photos, etc. can I ask for a tax refund?
What power has law where only money rules.
It may pay to notice that the Copyswede wesbite does not mention HOW the tax is redistributed.
If it's anything like real life there are many different groups they represent - not just the major labels, but also hundreds if not thousands of independant labels and artists.
Like royalties much of these renumerations remain unclaimed - I seriously doubt if Copyswede is also in the business of tracking down each and every artist owed compensation.
The question is: Where does all that extra money go? It's pretty clear from a dogmatic view alone that 'efficiency' is not the name of the game. Suspicious?
There are several jurisdictions that require tax stamps for marijuana; Kansas, for instance. Yes, it's mildly insane. On the other hand, the country's attitude about marijuana is pretty schizophrenic, and Kansas is a farm state after all....
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
Sweden is also the country who has a law that you have to display information about cookies on your site (of said site uses cookies).
Apparently some politician felt that cookies was some great threat to privacy and personal security, and presto - a pointless law was introduced. Oooh, thank you politicians for keeping dear little me safe from the evil cookies!
This law went into action sometime 2003 and is IMNSHO complete f****n bullshit.
I enjoy large posteriors and I cannot prevaricate.
There's not any good natural or common law analogy that I can come up with for it
It would be like paying taxes for the police department, fire department and ambulance service, and then not getting help from them when needed.
I'm surprised to see that noone has mentioned this yet. This latest thing that Jens pulled has nothing to do with him "standing" up for us. He's just trying to maximize his own profits.
A couple of years ago, Jens worked at a company, and he reported them to the BSA for having pirated software, and now he's fighting for pirated music? (The copyright levy that he refuses to pay may not be directly associated to supporting piracy (even though we all know it is), but a lot of his other statements are.)In my eyes he's a big phony which adds nothing to the music player industry and I wouldn't be caught dead with one of his players.
There sweeds. What else would they pirate.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
All I can say is "Right-Fucking-On"!
FINALLY a company with BALLS.
I bookmarked your site. I just found where I'm going to be doing my Christmas shopping.
Tell those SLIMY BASTARD RECORD COMPANIES they can fold it twice and shove it where the sun don't shine.
It looks like Google only converts to USD, even the non-.com. I'd expect the .co.uk to convert to GBP and the .fr or .de to convert to EUR.
Try this:
I think that if they start releasing DVDs at the same time as the theatre gets it, then theatres will have a very hard time attracting customers.
It's part of why a lot of Disney animated sequels (such as Stitch Has a Glitch) have gone direct to video. In fact, the V-Cinema phenomenon happened years ago IN JAPAN, and ova doesn't just mean eggs.
"Now, most people I know have 27+ inch screens, with at least stereo, if not surround sound."
We must know different people, then.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
I fully concur with your sentiment. Only, seen the fact I've experienced +21 year-olds to act as complete asses in theatres too, I'd rather absolutely forbid anyone under 30 from entering the building. ;-)
Sounds elitist?
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
http://www.electriccinema.co.uk/the-experience.php >The Electric cinema in London, UK does exactly that.
Imagine champagne in a comfy leather sofa watching a good film (cheaper than most Central London chains).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
US trials generally can't be photographed either. One of the networks did a re-enactment using actors, but I preferred Keith Olbermann's "Michael Jackson Puppet Theatre" on his Countdown news show on MSNBC. It had tacky little stick puppets, and entirely no respect for Jackson, his supporters, or his lawyers.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks