Re: Stallman calls for an end to file sharing war

[David Kastrup]

Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:

> In gnu.misc.discuss David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:
>
>> All countries putting a levy on empty media and copying "contributors"
>> (like hard disks, computers and so on) have distributing schemes in
>> place based on estimates of circulation.  Germany does, and most EC
>> countries likely as well.
>
>> A nuisance for people who buy computing equipment for computing
>> purposes, or blank media for backups of their own data.
>
> Last time I bought a pack of DVD+RWs, they cost less than 1 euro per
> disk.  The levy on them truly cannot be anything more than a slight
> nuisance.

<URL:http://www.gema.de/fileadmin/inhaltsdateien/musiknutzer/tarife/tarife_sonstige/Tarif_Rohlinge.pdf>

Für die Zeit ab dem 01.01.2010 auf der Grundlage von §§ 54, 54a UrhG
Produkt                    Vergütung je Stück
CD-R                                   €0,062
CD-RW                                  €0,197
DVD+/-R 4,7 GB                         €0,139
DVD+/-RW 4,7 GB                        €0,271
DVD-RAM 4,7 GB                         €0,550
DVD-RAM 9,4 GB                         €1,264
DVD Double Sided 9,4 GB                €0,117
DVD Double Layer / Dual Layer 8,5 GB   €0,386
Blu-ray 25 GB II.                      €3,473

So your "slight nuisance" makes about a third of your price tag.

Drives and PCs are taxed separately.

-- 
David Kastrup