Talking of government officials interfering with iPods, according to the New York Times the authorities in Japan are considering calls by some labels based there for a levy to charged on the sale of every iPod which would be passed onto the country's copyright owners. The logic is that consumers go beyond their existing copyright licence when they transfer tracks from their CDs to their MP3 players, and that the content owners should get a royalty payment for that. But not everyone in Japan supports such an 'iPod tax' - Hiroko Mizuhara of the Consumers Union of Japan told the Times:. "This is typical of how industry groups try to manipulate government at the expense of consumers".
Oct 10, 2005
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1 min read
Japan considering iPod levy
According to the New York Times, Japanese authorities are considering a levy on iPod sales to pay copyright owners, which the Consumers Union of Japan opposes.