Consumer electronics manufacturers and IT companies are pushing to abolish copyright levies on equipment in Europe, estimated to cost the industry more than €1 billion a year.
The companies say these taxes are harming the market for their products in Europe by adding up to €140 to the price consumers pay for some music players, printers and computers.
EICTA, the European trade body for the high-tech and consumer electronics industry, says levies have increased rapidly over the past few years. For example, the levy on a fax printer in Spain accounts for 43 per cent of the retail price. Ireland, the UK and Luxembourg, charge no levies at all, however.
Copyright levies on blank tapes and CDs and devices capable of reproducing copyrighted images and music were introduced in the 1960s to compensate copyright owners for legal private copying, such as taping music from a record on to a cassette tape or photocopying pages of a book.
EICTA wants the levies abolished to reflect the fact that an increasing amount of material is now protected by digital rights management (DRM) technology that limits the number of copies a consumer can make.
Songs bought in Apple's online iTunes music store, for example, can be copied just five times, while Napster's service limits purchases to three copies.
But international copyright holders' organisations, such as the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (ICSAS), oppose EICTA's proposed changes, arguing that it is possible to circumvent DRM technology and is at too early a stage to offer adequate protection.
ICSAS argues that devices such as Apple's iPod music player,which store 15,000 songs, have increased the ability of consumers to copy music, making it appropriate to raise the levies rather than abolish them.
Such music players have been hard hit by copyright levies. A 40-gigabyte iPod, which has a suggested retail price of €383.78, is subject to a €144.60 copyright tax in Spain. Levies vary across the European Union. The same iPod is subject to a €25.23 tax in Finland, and a €2.56 levy in Germany. The UK, Ireland and Luxembourg do not charge levies. Manufacturers have pulled out of some markets, blaming the copyright levies. Creative Labs, an Apple rival, does not sell its Jukebox music player in Austria.
Apple is fighting a lawsuit against the proposed iPod levies in Spain, while EICTA is appealing against a ruling by a German court that imposed a €12 levy on every computer sold.
The European Commission is expected to release the initial findings of an investigation into levies next month.
