[pp.int.general] [Cafe] levies

[Reinier Bakels]

> I can give you an example from Denmark on how levies are unfairly 
> distributed. If you buy a digital camera with a removable memory stick you 
> have to pay a levy of DKK 4.51. The argument is that the memory stick can 
> be removed from the camera and used in a mp3-player. The music industry 
> gets the money. Although the memory stick can clearly be used for 
> photographs (that is what it is sold for!),

Be careful! There is a copyright on buildings and statues, and photographs 
even made in the public space are due a copyright. E.g. in NL there was a 
case about photographs of the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam. There is only a 
statutory exception if the building is not the main subject of the 
photograph. So I guess there is an argument to have levies on camera memory 
sticks, bt it must be paid to architects rather than musicians! Another 
Dutch case was about an interview in a newspaper with a company director 
with a photograph made in his boardroom *including a sculpture in the 
background*. The sculptor, or actually the collecting society representing 
him, asked for a fee. Unfortunately this case was settled an not court 
decision was given (which does not mean the request was not unjust - if the 
requested compensation is less than say 10000 euro, it is cheaper (and 
easier) to accept the claim however unjust).

Of course I don't believe archtitects and sculptors must actually be paid 
(from levies or direct compentsation) for pictures of their works. Well, one 
may argue that a company making a lot of money from selling picture 
postcards of the Erasmus Bridge "deserves" part of the profit, but still I 
believe this is - literally - a bridge too far. The French must be glad that 
Gustave Eiffel died in 1923, over 70 years ago. How about sculptor of the 
the mermaid in the Kobnhavn harbour?

<cynical> I would suggest it would be merely consistent to impose a levy on 
glasses, as they also serve to make (or improve) pictures of copyrighted 
objects. </cynical>

In sum, such logic only confirms that present day copyright has run astray.

reinier