European filmmakers and musicians were in Brussels last week to lobby European Commission officials regarding copyright levies charged on electronic equipment that can be used for making copies of films or music. They fear the EC will look to bring to an end the so called iPod tax which currently operates in 18 of the 25 EU countries (no such levy exists in the UK of course).
The levies are similar to those charged in many European countries on blank cassettes, videos and CDRs which recognise that many people use those media to make additional copies of copyrighted content they have bought. The levy system legitimises the making of copies in this way (for personal use), but charges an extra tax on the sale of the blank media which is passed on to the copyright bodies as compensation for the copying. The iPod tax charges similar levies on portable media devices like iPods, because in the digital age it is those devices that people use for making personal copies of movies and albums.
EC officials are reviewing the levy system in the face of opposition from the electronics sector, who argue the system unfairly raises the prices of their products, and that digital rights management technology exists that could be controlling the making of personal copies. They have formed the Copyright Levies Reform Alliance which is calling for the system to be phased out.
While officials are yet to really comment on those demands, film and music makers have formed their own lobbying group, Culture First, and they held a press conference last week to present the case in favour of the levy. Speaking for the content makers, Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar told reporters: "Compensation for private copying is an important source of remuneration for artists. For small companies, struggling to pay for their productions, every source of finance counts".
Also from our Brussels correspondent, news that Spanish singer David Bisbal will this week join IFPI boss John Kennedy and Antonio Guisasola, director of Spanish music industry federation Promusicae, to call on the European Parliament to extend the length of recording copyrights across the EU. They will meet with Parliament President Josep Borrell as part of the previously reported Europe wide campaign to secure an extension for recording copyrights, which currently last for just 50 years in the EU (45 years less than in the US, and, in theory, over 100 years less than the copyright enjoyed by songwriters). The race is on, of course, to secure an extension before too many rock n roll recordings from the late 50s and early 60s start to come out of copyright.