[Focus] McCreevy seeks middle way in copyright levies dispute
HELENA SPONGENBERG
22.11.2006 @ 09:26 CET
EUOBSERVER / FOCUS - EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy has said he will not challenge authors' rights to remuneration for the copying of their work, but he still questions whether consumers are getting a fair deal when they pay extra for technical gadgets.
Speaking before MEPs in the European Parliament on Tuesday (21 November), Mr McCreevy promised that "where a rights holder suffers harm as a result of the private copy exception, they should be remunerated."
"I have heard a lot of loud conflicting voices on this issue right across Europe, Mr McCreevy said (Photo: European Commission)
Private copyright levies are a one-off tax which consumers in 20 EU countries need to pay when buying technical equipment such as computers or DVD-recorders, which can be used to make legal private copies of music or movies when, for example, buyers want an extra copy of a CD for the car.
The levies do not apply to technical devices in Cyprus, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the UK.
The EU executive is currently reviewing its 2001 copyright directive with a commission recommendation set to come out in December.
Mr McCreevy questioned whether the increased use of technological means to protect copyright protected works are being taken into account in today's system of copyright levies.
"I have heard a lot of loud conflicting voices on this issue right across Europe," Mr McCreevy said.
The electronics industry argues that the levy - introduced in the cassette recording days of the 1960s - is outdated in a time of digital rights management (DRM) technology, which technically limits the number of times a product - such as a CD - can be copied by buyers.
The copyright levies sector is worth an estimated 1.6 billion a year in the EU and rising, according to the software lobby BSA which wants to get rid of the system.
But creators and artists argue that they fail to see how DRM will substitute the levies system, whose implementation they say is worth 560 million a year.
Earlier this month, some of Europe's most acclaimed film directors such as Pedro Almodovar, Mike Leigh and Lars von Trier - got together to warn the commission against ending the private copy levy system.
"Our only assets as creators are the rights granted to us as authors of intellectual property works. Therefore questioning this right to compensation for private reproduction is a frontal attack on our 'droit d'auteur' or copyright," the filmmakers said in a joint letter.