It is another change of tactics in a war that has been going on for 50 years. This week, consumer electronics companies led by Apple, HP, Sony, Panasonic and Research In Motion, broke off the latest round of talks to reform the Europe’s convoluted system of private copy levies.
The copy levies are surcharges placed on devices such as MP3 players and printers by 22 European countries, to compensate writers, artists, and musicians for small amounts of personal copying of their material. It is not to be confused with illegal filesharing; the copy levies are intended to cover handfuls of copies in the private sphere, which many countries allow.
The fees are collected by national collecting societies, which then pass the money back to copyright holders.
The consumer electronics industry hates these levies, which have been around since the 1960s, arguing that they are inconsistent, confusing and above all very expensive. Fees vary greatly from country to country. For a multifunctional printer, for example, the levy is €178.84 in Belgium, but nothing in the Netherlands next door. MP3 players such as Apple’s iPod are subject to a €25 levy in France, but just €3.15 in Spain. The UK is a notable exception in allowing no private copying at all – and therefore has no levies.
The levies are estimated to have cost the consumer electronics industry over €2bn in 2009.
Bridget Cosgrave, director general of DigitalEurope, which represents more than 50 consumer electronics companies, said levies were becoming increasingly burdensome as product development accelerated and new categories of devices came onto the market.
Consumer electronics companies have been trying for years to change the system, without much luck. In 2006 the European Commission proposed reform, but member states refused to support the proposals. Consumer products companies then started direct talks with the collecting societies, to hammer out some compromise.
Now, after 18 months of talks, the products companies are throwing their hands up in despair, saying there has been no progress.
Gesac, the umbrella organisation for Europe’s collecting societies, was surprised by this assessment.
“We were very surprised by this decision as we consider we have achieved considerable progress,” said Véronique Desbrosses, secreatry general of Gesac. Ms Debrosses suggested that the consumer electronics industries had a “hidden agenda” in breaking off talks.
“They might hope that they can get a better deal through a directive by the European Commission,” she said.
Indeed, DigitalEurope now appears to be focusing its energy on getting the copyright levies back on the Brussels agenda as a new line-up of commissoners begins work. Whether the European Commission would be any more successful this time in driving through reform, however, is unclear.
The battle looks set to carry on for some considerable time still – and European consumers will be carrying the costs.
