EU DEFERS COPYRIGHT LEVY DECISION


The IPKat learns from Reuters that the European Commission has delayed a decision on whether to regulate the copyright levy on electronic goods. The news was condemned by a lobby group consisting of electronics manufacturers who have said that they will now formally complain about France, Spain, Germany and the other Member States that currently impose the levy.
The IPKat will make the point he has made before – if a levy is being levied, to allow full-scale copyright infringement actions would amount to a double reward for copyright owners.
EU DEFERS COPYRIGHT LEVY DECISION EU DEFERS COPYRIGHT LEVY DECISION Reviewed by Anonymous on Friday, December 15, 2006 Rating: 5

2 comments:

  1. There would be no double recovery, if, as seems likely, the levy is set at such a level to compensate only for "home infringers", ie. those infringers who copy on such a small scale that bringing a case against them will be uneconomic.

    Also, if there was a levy in the UK, and it could be shown in an infringement case that part of the loss claimed for had already been taken into account in the levy, then the damages awarded would be reduced, as you only get damages for loss actually suffered. This reasoning would presumably apply in any other country in the EU where damages are limited to compensation for actual loss.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Review believes it is possible to create a very limited private copying exception without a copyright levy. If rightholders know in advance of a sale of a particular work that limited copying of that work can take place, the economic cost of the right to copy can be included in the sale price. The “fair compensation” required by the Directive can be included in the normal sale price.

    4.75 Gowers Review

    ReplyDelete

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