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EU withdraws copyright reform plan
2006-12-13
The European Commission said Wednesday it had withdrawn plans that could end copyright levies on electronic equipment but denied it had done so under pressure from the French government. Most European countries charge fees on music and video players and blank CDs to compensate artists and copyright holders for legal copying. The Copyright Levies Reform Alliance -- which represents companies from the technology and recording industries -- said "outdated and unjust" levies should be phased out where alternative compensation exists, to bring the sector in line with EU copyright law. The levies are collected by artists' rights groups who distribute them to music and film copyright holders, performers and record companies. In some countries, a portion of the money also supports cultural projects, from sponsoring festivals to paying scholarships. The fees do not cover illegal copies a CD owner makes for other people. Manufacturers claim these levies unfairly raise the retail price of their products and are unnecessary as digital copyrights are rolled out. The levies are charged and paid out to artists in 19 of the EU's 25 nations. None is charged in Britain, Ireland or Cyprus, and different plans exist in Greece, Luxembourg and Malta. The group claims that the increasing use of digital rights management -- or DRM -- will not plug a gap as it will only cover the electronic version of a song. Artists lose that copyright protection the minute that track is copied onto a blank CD, it said.
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