CD burners make the copying of music and other CDs both cheap and simple. At present, the German government levies a fee on manufacturers of CD burners, as it has done for many years on makers of photocopiers. The fees are intended to reimburse artists for their losses due to copyright infringement by charging the makers of the equipment used by the infringers. The manufacturers argue that they are being used as scapegoats. Last week’s case was brought by HP against the German government on behalf of the industry.
HP argued that the German government’s policy of flat fees cannot be applied to digital technologies as it only applies to photocopiers and tape recorders. It said copyrighted materials can be better protected in the modern age through individual licensing and per-use fees.
However, the court’s preliminary ruling orders HP to disclose how many of the devices it has sold in Germany since 1998. The court will use the figure to set the level of fees payable.