EU Court - Piracy Tax On Printers

[Tinman57]

  Gee, why not tax TV's and DVR's since they can show unauthorised reproduction of their work?....  This also assumes that EVERYONE that uses a printer is some kind of pirate.  I thought Europe had better sense than this....

Top EU court says printers can be taxed to compensate for piracy losses

06.27.2013 6:50 AM

Europe's top court ruled Thursday that it is legal for countries to impose a levy on printer manufacturers such as Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Kyocera and Xerox in order to compensate rights holders for unauthorised reproduction of their work.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043128/top-eu-court-says-printers-can-be-taxed-to-compensate-rights-holders.html

[tomos]

Can anyone 'translate' this:

The court does however limit the amount that can be levied. "The overall amount of fair compensation must not be substantially different from the fixed amount owed for the reproduction obtained through the use of one single device," the ruling said.

[Stoic Joker]

Can anyone 'translate' this:

The court does however limit the amount that can be levied. "The overall amount of fair compensation must not be substantially different from the fixed amount owed for the reproduction obtained through the use of one single device," the ruling said.

I'm guessing it fairly close to the same "logic" behind the origins of the "Rule of Thumb".

For those that don't remember/care to Google it: The rule of thumb originally stated that you weren't allowed to beat you wife with a rod that was larger (in diameter) than your own thumb.

...Which sounds pretty close to what they are doing here to me.


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Congrats on hitting 7,000 posts man!

[tomos]

^ wow, hadn't heard that one before
(& thanks!)

[Carol Haynes]

There is a logical conclusion to the EU ruling - copy what you like now you are paying for it.

Since they are charging a levy for people making copies they can't argue that copying is illegal any longer.

[mwb1100]

The rule of thumb originally stated that you weren't allowed to beat you wife with a rod that was larger (in diameter) than your own thumb.

This tale about the origin of the "rule of thumb" phrase has been pretty well debunked.

[Stoic Joker]

The rule of thumb originally stated that you weren't allowed to beat you wife with a rod that was larger (in diameter) than your own thumb.

This tale about the origin of the "rule of thumb" phrase has been pretty well debunked.

Perhaps so, but none the less the potential for abuse (when interpreted by the good Ol' boy network) for either one matches perfectly.

[Tinman57]

Can anyone 'translate' this:

The court does however limit the amount that can be levied. "The overall amount of fair compensation must not be substantially different from the fixed amount owed for the reproduction obtained through the use of one single device," the ruling said.

  I think they're saying that you can't be taxed more than once per printer, but this is the most confusing legalese that I've ever seen.  I think they either misprinted the quote or the person that made the quote got tongue-tied.  Either way, it's a really bad law.  But like Carol said, it should make copying legal, even though they will fight that as well.

  When CD's first came out in mass back in the 80's, the MPAA/RIAA sued for the same thing and was awarded a special tax per CD sold, but yet it's still illegal to copy anything.  Basically, they get their cake and eat it too....