RSSThe Hague blocks Dutch gov't attempt to levy MP3 sales
By Ed Oswald | Published January 8, 2008, 1:07 PM
The Dutch equivalent of the RIAA lost its bid to put a tax on MP3 players Tuesday, as The Hague said it would not remove a government block on any further taxes.
Norma had sought to have a ban on further taxes on MP3 players lifted, however the courts said it had not seen enough evidence that the group was managing an already existing tax on blank CDs and DVDs.
The group obviously disagreed with the court's position, saying that it had used old statistics which indicated the rights group had a considerable backlog in processing the CD/DVD tax.
Additionally, Norma legal executive Marnix Langeveld added that technology had advanced beyond the disc, saying more people were using DVD and MP3 players to copy content directly to a hard disk.
Rights holders and industry members currently are given the responsibility to set the levies, however the courts can jump in if there are any issues. The Dutch government has also indicated that it would like to rework the whole system before next year, according to published reports.
OMFG....
Another country trying to subsidize a *BUSINESS* via taxes. In other words: Government run business (according to the likes of the Music industry, they'd fail without it, right?)
Yeah, that's not the least bit socialistic....
/sarcasm
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|I missed them saying it wasn't "socialistic", where exactly was this?
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|Just wait. sjc001 will be here momentarily to explain to us all how this has nothing to do with socialism.
I was simply being proactive. ;)
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|These taxes are payed because the Dutch law allows legal copies from the original for personal usage. This way the lost income for artists is paid, although it is unclear how the money is divided.
Since DVD's and CD's can also be used to copy games and movies my solution would be not only to divide this money for music only.
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