Spain Forces Compulsory Copyright Tax on Blank Media

Author
Aron Schatz
Posted
June 28, 2006
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8319

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In a bow to all media cartels, the Spanish government has mandated that a tax will be placed on all blank media. This means that you pay the content cartels even for stuff that has no effect on them at all. On the other hand, does this mean that copying copyrighted work is legal because you are already paying for it? Also, how does this fee get to the copyright holder? I have serious doubts if the government will give money to Linux distros that many people use on CDs.

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Is this an example of what is to come in the United States or other parts of Europe? People have long discussed this concept, known as "compulsory licensing." Meaning that basically the government assumes people are going to be putting copyrighted material on this blank media, Other ideas in the same vein include licensing fees imposed on DSL or cable customers, again assuming they are going to be making unauthorized copies of copyrighted material.


Since when did government exist to help the corporations? I thought governments were there to serve the people... Ohh that's America? Wait, America turned into a military-industrial complex! We are screwed.

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