On Friday 30 December 2011 the Spanish Government decided to abolish the present copyright levies system, establishing and replacing it by a different one, similar to the Norwegian system, where levies are calculated into the state budget.
From 1 January 2012 manufacturers, importers, resellers and distributors of electronic equipment and devices are not longer debtors to [...]
In some countries like Belgium, Russia, France, Italy and Belgium, by implementing tariffs or planning to do so, the levy situation for PCs has already changed. In Germany, however, the situation is still not clear: On the one hand negotiations for PC levies are still in process, on the other hand the tariffs have already [...]
Regarding the Copyright Levies for PCs in Germany, the industry is split: there are PC tariffs published on 29 April 2010 by the Collecting Society ZPÜ (Zentralstelle für private Überspielungsrechte) – which, however, have been rejected by the industry. The manufacturer association BCH (Bundesverband der Computerhersteller) meanwhile agreed upon their own tariff – which runs [...]
Finally, a Russian Collecting Society is officially authorized! However, it is none of those which so far were supposed to be selected.
Negotiations about copyright levies in Russia are apparently over. On 14 October 2010, the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 829 finally approved the negotiated scope and tariffs. A few days [...]
On 21 October 2010 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) published the final decision in the Padawan trial. The Spanish Collecting Society (SGAE) sued the company Padawan and put claims for unpaid levies for blank media. After loosing the case on the national level of jurisdiction, Padawan appealed to the ECJ. In its decision the [...]
The constant technical developments in the sector of consumer electronics force the Collecting Societies to adapt their scope of levies products. Especially mobile phones and so called Smart Phones are part of this progress. Because of their meanwhile enormous storage capacity (and thus the use of the phones as a multifunctional entertainment tool) mobile phones [...]
For another analogue device one needs no copyright tariff anymore: Sony will no longer produce its Walkman cassette player. Over the past years, Sony reported decreasing sales; therefore phasing out of the production was a logical consequence. According to this managerial decision, we can see the natural development of the scope for copyright levied products. [...]
September 30, 2010, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (BVerfG) decided about a constitutional complaint of the Collecting Society regarding the copyright levies on printers. The decision of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) of December 6, 2007, is thereby obsolete and the claim is remanded. It hereby concerns the levies for devices sold up [...]
The Industry Association BITKOM and the Collecting Society ZPÜ have concluded a new agreement about the extension of copyright levies in Germany. According to the decision of the Arbeitskreis Urheberrechtsabgaben (Committee of Industry Associations and Collecting Societies) of 13 January 2010, the new contract, including new tariffs for USB-Sticks and Memory Cards, is released. The [...]