HP to pay antipiracy fee for CD burners

[bonkers325]

"...Computer giant Hewlett-Packard has become the first company to be snagged by a German law requiring firms to pay fees for making CD burners that are being used to illegally lift the latest hits off the World Wide Web. Many of Germany's neighbors, including France, Italy and Greece, have similar laws meant to protect authors and musicians by nailing makers of equipment used to violate copyright laws. But the laws date back decades and focus on devices like tape recorders and video players.

The German case against Hewlett-Packard extends Germany's pre-existing law into the digital age, when such things as CD burners, computer printers, hard drives and high-speed modems make it easier to copy and transfer copyrighted items.

GEMA, German's main licensing group, targeted Hewlett-Packard as a test case in May, reasoning that the company leads the German market leader in CD burners. But Hewlett-Packard dug in its heels when it was ordered to pay 30 marks ($12.90) for each CD burner sold in Germany since February 1998.

The legal battle continued until Thursday, when an agreement was reached to have Hewlett-Packard pay 3.60 marks ($1.54) for each unit sold during that period while agreeing to pay 12 marks ($5.16) for each one sold in the future.

Other companies selling CD burners in Germany will also be subject to the fees, which could vary depending on what kind of agreement they reach with GEMA. The Hewlett-Packard settlement is expected to set a benchmark, however..."

 

[Cable God]

HP just bent over and took it without any fight? My god, what has this world come to? Like that idiotic ISP in europe that claimed to have invented hyperlinks.... Maybe true, but why not sue ALL ISP's instead of just the ones in the US? Sounds like they are starving and the money our govt. sends isn't working....

 

[konichiwa]

Wow, that's insane. :Q

 

[somethingwitty]

<< targeted Hewlett-Packard as a test case in May >>



WTF! A &quot;test case&quot;. That just really pisses me off. 'Let's see if we can get one company to hand us cash, then we'll try it on some others'. come on! That's rediculous.

 

[bonkers325]

i wonder whos next on the hit list

cheers,
bonkers325

 

[Ornery]

So, they pass the fee on to consumers. As long as all other companies have to pay as well, it's fair. Why the consumers put up with it is the mystery.

 

[Pretender]

The question is - how much will it affect us? For units sold in the past, it may raise prices in the US on HP burners a few cents at most. For units in the future, will the extra fee be added to the price in Germany, or will it be spread out to all burners sold everywhere?

 

[konichiwa]

Ornery

It's not fair because of the precedent it sets. If you hold a CD-burner company responsible for the music people burn illegally, do you also hold Cisco accountable for all the illegal information that is transmitted across their internet backbones? What about hard drive manufacturers for storing the illegal data? What about Imation and TDK for making the CDs? What about Uniball pens, because, who knows, someone could write down copyrighted material with a uniball pen. What about.........see my point?

 

[Imported]

&quot;What about me? What about me!!&quot;

I guess they'd go after the consumers who buy the CD burners to use them to do what they do. Konichiwa is right..

 

[urbantechie]

What? Thats dumb. Can't they just sue every other CD-RW maker then?
Oh wait German companies only?

 

[fake]

Look up this discussion on Slashdot, Germany has been doing this for years with vhs, audio cassettes, etc and has already set precedent a long time ago.

 

[WetWilly]

On the other hand, you could construe it as a license to pirate. Hypothetically an owner of a brand new post-tariff CD-RW drive could easily rationalize that he's just paid $5.16 to compensate somebody for pirating he's never done with that drive. So why not go out and pirate at least your $5.16 worth?

 

[snow]

Too bad for the germans. That 'theory' if it can be called that, would likely never fly here. The bottom line is that Germans or Euros will be paying more for their burners. Just because they're paying a fee there doesn't mean costs are shifted globally esp considering the competition.

 

[bonkers325]

WetWilly
lol

cheers,
bonkers325

 

[Ornery]

Chill out konichiwa. Germany can make whatever laws they want. HP doesn't have to sell there if they don't want to. Precedent? Guess what? Germany is already setting &quot;precedents&quot; in the way they write local pornography laws. Do you feel threatened of your right to view porn on-line too?

 

[konichiwa]

Ornery

I'm chill. I'm cool. I'm not pissed off at you or anything, just making a point. But do you see what I mean? It's a slippery slope from holding a third party responsible to what could be called free speech violations. Although it sounds apathetic, I'm just glad it's not happening here in the US.

 

[WetWilly]

Konichiwa,

As a representative of GEMA, German's main licensing group, we would like to thank you for providing a listing of new potential targets in our continued attempts to protect the German people from themselves. Your list has saved us valuable time, and counsel for Cisco, Hard Drive Manufacturers, Imation, TDK, and Uniball will be hearing from us shortly. If you think of anyone else, please email us at GEMA@gonnasueyourass.de.

P.S. Our lawyers asked if you could please specifically enumerate who you mean by &quot;Hard Drive Manufacturers.&quot; We could not find a company by this name in the Thomas Register. Thank you.

 

[Zucchini]

Yup yup, its fair as long as such extra charges are applied evenly to both domestic and import items Screw the germans!!

 

[apoppin]

What about scanners and digital copiers? Are these CD burners &quot;stand-alone&quot; units or burners that need a computer to function? Shouldn't the computer manufacturers and modem manufacturers be penalized also?

It just looks like another tax to me.

 

[thelanx]

That's outrageous! It's just like that story I heard about the burglar. A guy tried to climbed a faulty ladder in his attempt to rob a house. The ladder was in the backyard. The ladder broke and the burglar got hurt. The burglar sued the owners of the house for having a faulty ladder in their yard. That's crazy! I can't believe HP is letting this happen. It's not just HP that should protest, this affects many people. I think this should be contested. (sorry if my message in too strong, I just feel strongly about this issue.)

 

[AndrewR]

HP should organize with the other manufacturers to stop the sales of CD-R/W drives in Germany and include specific language in their drive kits to prohibit the resale of their drives into Germany. When Helmut cannot buy his drive, he might ask Berlin to change that stupid law.

The capacity for idiocy in lawmakers is sometimes breathtaking.

 

[PCAddict]

I'm glad I have burners for all of my machines already. This is a bit too much. I guess we're going to see a price increase now.

I remember reading about that ISP that claimed to have invented hyperlinks. It shows that there are morons all over the world.

 

[Zucchini]

andrewr,

Why? wouldnt' it be better to sell more units? hehe no way the music industry could make up for all the copies they would ugh lose.